Forget the million-dollar club – you’ll need nearly four times as much to secure a luxury home in Main Beach, Queensland’s fastest-growing prestige postcode.
House prices in Main Beach are tipped to swell to an eye-watering median of $3.83m this year, based on the suburb’s sales price growth in 2020 of 56 per cent.
The seaside enclave is among seven Coast suburbs identified as achieving a median sales price of more than $1m in 2020, along with price growth of more than 10 per cent.
The REA Insights Property Outlook Report 2021 released this week found strong market conditions would mean sale prices in these suburbs will skyrocket, with Main Beach leading the charge as the state’s first $3m-plus suburb.
Semi-rural Guanaba came in second on the Coast and third statewide with a forecast 2021 median sale price of $1.7m, based on a 39 per cent spike to a median of $1.23m in 2020.
Idyllic Currumbin Valley performed next-best, with a predicted media sale price of $1.43m based on this year’s growth of 28 per cent to $1.12m; followed by its coastal counterpart of Currumbin, which based on 17 per cent growth would reach a median sales price of $1.3m.
Other top performers were Tallebudgera, Clear Island Waters and Broadbeach Waters, where forecast 2021 house sale prices were $1.29m, $1.42m and $1.43m respectively.
REA Group analysed Australian property markets, finding that the number of suburbs nationwide with a median price of more than $3m had doubled in 2020 and was set to double again in 2021.
The report stated Australians have never been wealthier, giving rise to the booming luxury property market, with views on homes priced at more than $10 million on its listings website realestate.com.au up 150 per cent.
Property was buoyed by a combination of low interest rates, increased consumer saving, record levels of government stimulus and only specific sectoral job loss.
REA Group chief economist Nerida Conisbee said the Coast’s prestige market was fuelled by strong population growth along with a spike in demand for holiday homes.
“In the June and September quarters we saw the highest level of movement from Melbourne up to South East Queensland since the early ’90s, and we also had a lot of movement from NSW, so it was a real shift of people moving north,” Ms Conisbee said.
“While the market demonstrated remarkable resilience overall in 2020 with house and unit prices rising, rental markets suffered, investor demand was low and new development slowed dramatically,” she said.
“As Australia enters a COVID-normal environment, the property market can expect positive conditions to remain, with a few exceptions.”
Regional property markets would continue to outperform metro, with views per listing on realestate.com.au jumping 44 per cent for properties in regional Australia compared with 16 per cent in capital cities in the second half of 2020.
Harcourts Coastal sales director and auctioneer Rob Forde said the prestige boom was driven by the Gold Coast’s appeal as a vibrant city with unmatched lifestyle benefits – and great value real estate prospects for those selling in the more expensive markets of Sydney and Melbourne.
“There hasn’t been better buying conditions in decades, which is obviously what’s fuelling this growth,” Mr Forde said.
“Money is cheap, and I think that’s given people confidence and extended the ability to take a home loan, which in turn has allowed house prices to move.
“There is no question that we are seeing some outstanding results, but people are just wanting premier prestige Gold Coast property and they’re paying for it,” he said.
Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty sales executive Josh Mana said well-heeled local buyers were now astute to the market price shift, with Main Beach enjoying a revival in 2020 on the back of new luxury residential developments.
“I would call Main Beach one of the most sophisticated suburbs on the Gold Coast, and it has been a bit of a sleeping giant for the past decade,” Mr Mana said.
“You’ve got a lot of high-net-worth individuals, a lot of self-funded retirees, and a lot of good quality business owners, and they’re all willing to spend the money to upgrade from where they are.”
Ray White Surfers Paradise director Andrew Bell said median prices were not a reliable indicator of future growth.
“Median prices are tricky, because it could represent the fact that there’s been a significant number of sales in a high price bracket, which is what has happened in Main Beach,” Mr Bell said.
“The market is red hot, it’s as hot as it’s ever been. There’s already been between 20-30 per cent price increase in the past six months, that can’t keep happening every six months.
“Already we’re in what might be described as a price bubble fed by cheap interest rates and interstate migration … what we’ve learned in the past is inevitably there will be a price bubble burst,” he said.
Viva Hyde, Gold Coast Bulletin – 26 February 2021
