Interactive: Where values soared in QLD’s regional boom towns

Houses in 611 suburbs across Queensland recorded double-digit price growth in the past year, with 177 of those suburbs located outside of the booming southeast Queensland property market.

Houses in 611 suburbs across Queensland recorded double-digit price growth in the past year, with 177 of those suburbs located outside of the booming southeast Queensland property market.

And five of those same suburbs also recorded double-digit price growth in the September quarter, according to new data from Core Logic.

MORE NEWS: The QLD homes for sale with ready-made cyclone shelters

Coastal house sets a new $16.45m QLD auction record

OnlyFans millionaire reveals QLD ‘Playboy Mansion Down Under’

Excluding the boom markets of Brisbane, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, the top performing region was Wide Bay, which had six of the top 10 suburbs for median house price growth in the September quarter, and nine out of the top 10 over the year.

Houses in the increasingly sought-after region, which lies about 170km north of the Brisbane CBD, have basked in annual price growth of between 28.9 and 36.1 per cent, with prices swelling between 10.1 per cent and 11.6 per cent in the September quarter alone.

Tin Can Bay aerial

Leading the way was Curra, where house values rose 11.6 per cent over the quarter and 32.4 per cent over the year.

It was second only to Moffat Beach on the red-hot Sunshine Coast, where house values rose 11.7 per cent over the quarter.

In Tin Can Bay, regional Queensland’s strongest performer over the year, home values rose 10.1 per cent in the September quarter, with sellers earning around $176,000 in a year off the back of 36.1 per cent growth – or double the average national wage, new data from CoreLogic has revealed.

A renovated character property in Tin Can Bay recently sold for $464,000 – $339,000 more than it was bought for in September last year.

Century 21 Gympie & Cooloola Coast agent Paul Downman said it wasn’t just house prices that “had gone crazy”.

“Rentals have gone stupid as well,” he said. “The average rental a year ago was about $320 a week, now its $500.

“There is a lot going on in the region, from the solar farm and the (Gympie) bypass to the wind farm proposed to start next year, and we are also just over an hour from the Sunshine Coast airport.

“So we are getting attention from investors, but also a lot of owner-occupiers are buying up rentals and holiday homes so there is a real shortage of accommodation.”

This Tin Can Bay house was renovated, earning its previous owner a tidy profit

The Cairns suburb of Wonga Beach was regional Queensland’s second star performer over the September quarter, with house values rising 11.3 per cent to $364,775.

Among the other top performers were Moura (Central Queensland), Stanthorpe and Rosenthal Heights (Darling Downs-Maranoa).

CoreLogic’s head of research Eliza Owen said the data analysed 925 house and unit markets across Queensland, located across 712 suburbs, with 94.7 per cent of markets recording an increase in value in the three months to September.

“Houses broadly outperformed units through the September quarter, with a 5.8 per cent rise in house values across Queensland compared with a 4.4 per cent lift in unit values,” Ms Owen said.

“However, the top performing markets in the quarter included Holloways Beach, a relatively affordable unit market, as well as units in Burleigh Heads and Burleigh Waters.

“Interestingly, houses in Holloways Beach were one of the weaker markets through the September quarter (with values falling -3.7%), which may signal more desirability

towards relatively affordable unit stock in the region.”

In the Cairns region, houses in Wonga Beach led the way, followed by houses in Port Douglas, up 6.7 per cent over the quarter to $790,505, and Parramatta Park, up 5.9 per cent to $485,117.

An aerial view of Port Douglas, where house values rose 6.7 per cent in the September quarter PHOTO: Supplied.

While in the Townsville region, homeowners in Alligator Creek recorded the biggest rise in quarterly values, up 7.3 per cent to $477,609, followed by Wulguru (+5.1%) and Deeragun (+5%).

Keyes & Co Townsville agent Matt O’Hanlon said Alligator Creek was attracting a “huge number” of buyers seeking a change of lifestyle, and people upgrading to rural acreage close to town.

”It is mostly local growing families but I have sold a few to people from the southeast corner,” he said.

“Demand has really increased and that’s had an impact on prices.”

This modern home on 0.44ha in Alligator Creek sold for $610,000

Homeowners in Seaforth (Mackay-Isaac-Whitsunady) saw the biggest quarterly growth in that region – up 8.2 per cent to $362,586, followed by Hay Point (+6%) and Proserpine (+1.6%).

While further south, in Toowoomba, house values in Gowrie Junction recorded the biggest quarterly rise, up 5.9 per cent.

Originally published as Interactive: Where values soared in QLD’s regional boom towns