‘People love living here’: South-east Queensland suburbs where house prices doubled in five years

Property prices in three pockets of south-east Queensland have more than doubled in the past five years as coastal havens and lush hamlets draw strong buyer demand.

House prices in Surfers Paradise and Brisbane’s Yeronga have increased by more than 100 per cent since 2018, Domain data shows, as have apartment prices in Coolum Beach on the Sunshine Coast.

House prices in Surfers Paradise increased by 107.9 per cent over the past five years.

Surfers Paradise clocked the largest upswing, its median house price increasing 107.9 per cent over the five-year period to a record $2.65 million.

Coolum Beach apartment prices rose 106 per cent to $865,000, while Yeronga’s house median increased 104.8 per cent to almost $1,608,000 – jumping 22.2 per cent last year alone – despite the suburb being hit during major flood events.

But growth in other suburbs was more subdued, and apartment values even declined in two Brisbane suburbs, Newstead and South Brisbane.

Newstead recorded a median apartment price of $620,000, 6.4 per cent below 2018 levels, while prices in South Brisbane were 7 per cent lower, at $555,000, despite more recent price growth.

Coolum Beach house prices have soared.

Property punters said buyers were continuing to prize lifestyle locations, particularly in previously untapped pockets, but were shirking apartments in some parts of the concrete jungles, despite an overall housing shortage.

PRD chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo said suburbs that neighboured blue chip hot spots were having a moment in the spotlight.

“If you look at Yeronga five years ago, a lot of people didn’t know about it. There are hardly any units there, it’s mostly residential and you can still find big blocks that start from 500 square metres,” she said.

“It’s close to schools, but also Yeronga has benefited from [more well known] suburbs around [such as Indooroopilly or Annerley]. And because of that house scarcity in those places, buyers were forced to start looking into pockets within a five-kilometre radius.

“I’m not surprised that these places are getting this growth. On the other end of the spectrum, Brisbanites haven’t really gone into unit living as much as their Sydney and Melbourne counterparts, so we are still favouring housing stock.

“Units [in South Brisbane and Newstead] also went down in price because of the sheer amount of supply there. We’ve seen a lot of new units built over the years.”

Mardiasmo added that South Brisbane had become a heaving epicentre that was notoriously congested and a parking nightmare – two factors that deterred buyers during the pandemic.

Just a few kilometres away in Yeronga, ample space, an abundance of parking, and a laidback lifestyle was attracting families in their droves, said long-time resident and real estate agent Jane Elvin, of LJ Hooker Annerley, Yeronga and Salisbury.

She said the suburb felt more like a country town and that demand had skyrocketed during COVID, despite a handful of homes being completely inundated with water in the 2011 Brisbane floods and during major flood events in 2022.

“People love living here and even the threat of flooding doesn’t stop them,” Elvin said.

The suburb’s abundance of parklands, safe and welcoming community, tranquillity and proximity to the University of Queensland made it a magnet for buyers, Elvin said.

“We’re seeing property price growth across the board. By the time a home has settled it’s worth more,” she said.

“Our biggest problem now is that stock levels are tight.”

It led to a home recently setting a new suburb property price record of $9 million, although details of the sale remain shrouded in secrecy. The previous record of $7.95 million was set by 17 Ormadale Road last year.

In Coolum Beach, Mark Lawler, principal of Richard & Wrench Coolum, said the coastal pocket was a sleeping giant that had eye-watering price growth off the back of the widespread sea change trend and skyrocketing prices in nearby Noosa.

House prices also shot up, rising 85.7 per cent over the five years to a median of $1.3 million.

“During the pandemic Noosa of course went nuts and Mooloolaba did too. But Coolum was located halfway through, and it was undervalued in comparison,” he said.

“We had a lot of what I call ‘grandma three bedroom brick and tile homes’ that all previously sold for $500,000 to $600,000, and suddenly, they started selling for over $1 million.

Lawler said while Noosa had a significant softening of prices in the 2022 downturn, Coolum barely wobbled.

“I think Noosa always has the higher highs and the lower lows like Sydney,” he said.

Apartment prices in Coolum have bounced back massively since, Lawler said, rising faster than house prices.

“I think apartment living is becoming more attractive here … especially three-bedroom units.“