Now is the time to sell on the Gold Coast as an influx of interstate residents heading north sparks a property boom.
Real estate agents and housing developers have been inundated with thousands of inquiries from interstate callers preparing to pack up their lives in their quest of a sea change in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.
The phones will continue to run hot as Queensland prepares to reopen its borders to Sydneysiders and Victorians for the first time in months on Tuesday.
Gold Coast property prices are set to rise by 20 per cent in the wake of the mass migration flocking to the Sunshine State in the coming weeks.
Hundreds of interstate residents are flocking to the Gold Coast in search of a sea change, which will see property price values rise. Pictured are women soaking up the sunshine in nearby Burleigh Heads
The city was one of six Queensland regions to record an all-time high median price in the most recent CoreLogic figures.
The current median value for a Gold Coast property is $565,841, which could rise again on Tuesday when CoreLogic releases its monthly data for November.
The October median house price for a house on the Gold Coast is $682,146, almost $20,000 more than when the pandemic hit Australia in March, according to CoreLogic data obtained by Daily Mail Australia.
The median price for a unit was $439,707, compared to $419,968 in March.
At least $16billion has been injected into the 2018 Commonwealth Games host city in recent years.
Agents have hailed the current housing boom as the most exciting time in the city’s real estate history.
Aerial view of Cronin and Chevron Islands with the Surfers Paradise skyline in the background
‘There was a wave of interstate buyers who went in sight unseen but now the early indicator is that this was just the start of a significant migration to the Gold Coast,’ Harcourts Coastal Broadbeach director Dane Atherton told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
Agents say interstate interest has been in everything across the board from residential family homes and luxury units to waterside mansions and rental properties.
‘It’s not just buying – there is a huge demand for rentals and if you look at our pre-COVID data we had rental roll of 3500 and typically we’d get 4000-4500 inquiries,’ Ray White Surfers Paradise boss Andrew Bell said.
‘Now we are getting 10,000 inquiries and it gives you some indication of the growing demand for this area, some of which are people testing it out before buying.’
Removalist company Muval has seen a 235 per cent spike in calls and emails from Victoria inquiring about a move to the Gold Coast.
Gold Coast property prices are set to rise by 20 per cent in the wake of the mass migration from Victoria and NSW. Pictured is an aerial view of Surfers Paradise
The Gold Coast was one of 21 regions across the country to see median house values hit record highs in October, according to CoreLogic.
Neighbouring regions the Sunshine Coast ($627,662), Richmond-Tweed on the NSW border ($596,732) Brisbane-East ($577,854), Brisbane-North ($569, 742) and Moreton Bay-South ($519,232) also recorded all-time high median prices.
‘Lifestyle’ locations such as the Gold Coast and surrounding regions will continue to benefit from Australia’s recovery from the pandemic, according to CommSec.
‘Record-low mortgage rates and lifestyle changes – due to the pandemic – are encouraging Aussies to ‘dip their toes’ back into the residential property market,’ its latest Economic Insights report states.
‘Sales activity in the ‘virus-free’ suburbs of capital cities and regional areas has picked-up – soaking up available housing stock and pushing up prices.’
Queensland will finally reopen its borders to Sydneysiders and Victorians. Pictured is motorist driving through a border control checkpoint at Coolangatta near the Queensland/NSW border
Further north in Queensland, real estate agents are struggling to meet the overwhelming demand for rental properties.
The rental vacancy rate in Cairns in the state’s far north is at one per cent with every property for lease attracting up to 20 applications.
REIQ Far North zone chairman Tom Quaid has seen the rental market tightern since the pandemic crisis.
‘Before then, there were a lot of investors converting properties to holiday leasing and Airbnb,’ he told the Cairns Post.
‘When COVID happened and that became non-viable, many pulled out of that and just put it into straight six-12 month rental leases to get some money coming in.
Local families say they’ve struggling to get in a look-in with their applications, despite excellent references.
‘We went to several properties and have been told our applications are great, but there’s an influx of people also looking to move in, so we’ve been getting rejection after rejection,’ one mum said.