Property: Southern Gold Coast the city’s tightest property market as demand increases for coastal units

More towers and high-density development will be needed on the southern Gold Coast to accommodate a dramatically growing population, a new report reveals. FIND OUT MORE

More towers and high-density development will be needed on the southern Gold Coast to accommodate a dramatically growing population, a new report reveals.

The coastal suburbs surrounding the proposed future light rail route are in high demand from buyers but a report by property consulting firm Urbis reveals it is the city’s tightest property market.

While several projects are in the pipeline or under construction between Palm Beach and the border, leading developer Ron Bakir is tipping a wave of new towers to be unveiled in the next 24 months.

Ron Bakir. Photo: Regi Varghese

The Homecorp boss said developers were well aware of significant demand and looking to capitalise.

“We will absolutely be seeing far more development in those areas in the near future, there is no doubt,” he said. “It is a truly magnificent area and it has a lot of potential but it is just a matter of making the projects stack up and finding the right land parcels.

“The demand is self-evident and clear.”

The Urbis apartment essentials report analysed the state of the unit market in the final three months of 2024 and found it was the city’s “most tightly held apartment precinct”.

Just 73 sales were recorded between September and December, with only 82 apartments on the market in that period.

Further development is coming to the southern Gold Coast, with or without the light rail. Picture: Department of Transport and Main Roads.

The Gold Coast overall recorded 290 in the same three-month period, with 73 per cent of those sales in Surfers Paradise, Southport and Broadbeach.

Urbis senior consultant Lynda Campbell, who wrote the report, said there was significant demand for property despite low supply.

“The southern beaches are clearly emerging as a blue-chip apartment precinct, where prestige projects are being absorbed quickly and new supply remains limited,” she said.

“Most of the projects coming to the market are smaller-scale boutique developments either directly on the beachfront or close to the beach, which heightens demand for this type of product.

“The problem is there are not enough of these projects coming onto the market to satisfy demand which is putting upwards pressure on prices.”

Lynda Campbell, senior Consultant from Urbis. Picture by Scott Fletcher

Among the latest developments proposed for the area is a 105-unit, 14-storey mid-rise tower earmarked for Coolangatta’s Haig Street.

An application made last week by Immerse Projects reveals it will replace a pair of two-storey unit buildings.

While there is a cloud over the future of the light rail extension to the airport, the state government’s review of it will have no impact on the property market, or the amount of development occurring in southern suburbs.

Artist impression of a tower proposed for Haig Street, Coolangatta

A new National Property Research Co (NPRC) report released last week revealed the pace of construction would need to intensify if the city was to meet state government growth targets.

“In the next 20 years the Gold Coast’s population is forecast to surpass one million residents, which means another 144,000 new dwellings will need to be delivered to meet that demand,” NPRC director Matthew Gross said.

“The supply-demand imbalance has had a significant impact on property values in the city, with the median apartment price increasing 343 per cent since 2000 from $174,900 to its current median price of $795,000 for the first quarter of 2025.

“This is already $20,000 above the median apartment price of 2024.

“In the past decade, we’ve also seen the number of apartment sales above $2m grow by 1600 per cent, from just 33 sales in 2014 to more than 528 sales in 2024.”

Originally published as Property: Southern Gold Coast the city’s tightest property market as demand increases for coastal units