Sunshine Coast real estate: Median home prices drop for 28 suburbs

Real estate data shows a boom period for home sales on the Sunshine Coast and Noosa may be slowing down slightly with 28 suburbs recording a drop in median house prices.

Declining trends in median house prices have begun to appear in several Sunshine Coast and Noosa suburbs over the last several months, indicating the property boom of 2021 could be starting to slow.

It comes off the back of a mammoth period of growth in the region fuelled in large by interstate migration driven by the pandemic.

CoreLogic data revealed 28 suburbs across the Sunshine Coast and Noosa have dropped several percentage points off their median house value from May to July in 2022.

Sunshine Beach, Castaways Beach and Marcoola were at the top of the list, with their median house values dropping by 4 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent respectively.

Median house value decline can also be seen in areas such as Bokarina, Little Mountain and Tewantin, which recorded falls between 2.2 per cent to 2.6 per cent.

This trend is being witnessed in varying Australian house markets with 41.9 per cent of house and unit markets declining over the June quarter.

Ilookproperty’s Edwin Limque said the market was in a “transitional” phase following from the boom at the end of 2021.

“The market’s looking for a new direction, whether it’s horizontal or down or up,” Mr Limque said.

“The top has come off the good run that we’ve had.”

Mr Limque said in Kawana Waters and the surrounding suburbs in Bokarina and Warana, agents weren’t seeing the prices they were receiving at the end of 2021.

Sunshine Beach homes have had their median house value drop by four per cent in the last three months. Picture: Tom Offermann Real Estate

“The values aren’t what they were, the urgency isn’t there, with prospective homeowners taking more time to make decisions as there are more properties on the market to compare against,” he said.

“They’re trying to justify the value more these days.”

CoreLogic Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said the updated data showed a significant rise in the proportion of declining markets compared to March, when values were falling predominantly in Sydney and Melbourne markets.

“This analysis captures two of the three recent rate hikes so it’s not surprising to see the added downward pressure has had a broader impact on the housing market,” Ms Ezzy said.

“Historically, premium suburbs are more volatile than the more affordable areas, values shoot up much faster during an upturn, but are among the first to fall during a declining market.”

Originally published as Sunshine Coast real estate: Median home prices drop for 28 suburbs