BRISBANE’S house prices have hit a record high with new figures revealing the median had now hit $670,000.
While the property market continued to cool in southern states, new figures released by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland showed the median house price within the Brisbane local government area was 3.1 per cent higher in the March quarter.
REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said the growth demonstrated “admirable resilience’’ in the local market.
She said the price rise was buoyed by steady population growth and strong demand and a lack of new listings.
Stock on market was down to just 6.1 per cent — the lowest in the state.
As a result Ms Mercorella said buyers had to act fast if they wanted to snare a property with days on market now at just 32 days.
Matt Lancashire of Ray White New Farm, said the past quarter had been a strong one for the Brisbane market
“Our last quarter was the most positive quarter in this financial year for us,’’ he said.
Mr Lancashire said the unit market in the inner city was starting to fire again and importantly Brisbane’s property market including the luxury end, was seen as really good value.
He said in the past couple of months there had been a huge amount of interstate interest in the market.
The report said the outlook for the house market in the Brisbane local government area remained solid while parts of the unit market continued to face difficult conditions because of oversupply.
“We expect to see greater equilibrium between supply and demand over the next 12 to 24 months,’’ it said.
REIQ chairman Peter Brewer said the figures showed that Queensland was a “safe haven’’ for property investment.
“Interstate migration is still strong, that helps give us stability around prices as well,’’ he said.
Mr Brewer said with pledges for spending on infrastructure through Federal and State governments on things like Queensland roads, property was becoming more attractive here.
“Overall it is a pretty healthy report for Queensland compared to other states,’’ he said.
Mr Brewer said growth in Brisbane and Queensland was “steady, nice, comfortable and sensible’’ and that wasn’t a bad way to be.
“Real estate is still the number one spectator sport and people still watch it with passion and we are very, very, safe.’’
Other council areas outside of the Brisbane area also performed well during the quarter. The Logan local government area delivered one of the strongest performances during the quarter
with its median house price up 4 per cent to $395,000.
The report found the “lifestyle markets’’ of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast had continued to drive the growth of sales and rentals.
The Gold Coast median house price was down by 0.3 per cent in the quarter, but grew by 6 per cent in the past 12 months to $620,000, the highest growth in the state, while on the Sunshine Coast the median house price rose by 2.3 per cent for the quarter and 5.2 per cent for the past 12 months to $576,250.
Source: www.news.com.au
