QUEENSLAND is on track to break its previous record for the number of suburbs with $1 million median values, latest industry analysis shows.
CoreLogic research on property values to June 2016 found that 613 suburbs were in the million-dollar club nationwide (up 29 per cent on 2015), of which 19 were in Queensland.
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The Sunshine State was steadily driving its way back to its previous high of 24 suburbs – notched in 2010, agoal it was expected to hit within the next two years, according to CoreLogic research analyst Cameron Kusher.
“What we saw after the global financial crisis was a lot fewer Queensland suburbs in that million-dollar range, but it’s starting to pick back up,” he said.
“We’re starting to see strength in the market, especially in areas like the Gold and Sunshine coasts and we expect over the next few years to see the number of suburbs break through that previous high.”
This year’s million-dollar median value additions were Tennyson, Fortitude Valley, Chelmer and Pullenvale, joining the likes of Queensland’s most expensive suburb Teneriffe, as well as Hawthorne, Bulimba, Clayfield and blue chip zones such as Ascot and Hamilton.
The state’s premier suburbs had seen a yoyo effect post GFC, shrinking to just nine suburbs in the million-dollar club four years ago, well down on 24 in 2010 and 21 in 2011. The medians were calculated off the updated value of every property in each suburb listed.
Ray White Bulimba real estate agent Karen Chappell said families were finding great value in premier suburbs because they tended to have active community involvement.
“It’s a community within a spectacular lifestyle. Everybody sponsors local events in the community, anything going on in the community is well supported and people want to live in that environment.”
Hawthorne residents Neil and Kate Robson have just put their six-bedroom Queenslander at 12 Malcolm Street on the market, 25 years after first moving in.
“Prior to us buying here, no one wanted live here. Oxford St was a hardware store, a commercial bakery, an empty servo. It was pretty ordinary. It’s hard to believe that the little service station is now an up-market delicatessen with organic fruit and vege and Oxford St is all eateries and so forth. It’s a premier suburb.”
“We were one of the first to lift a house in Hawthorne and they thought we’d overcapitalised. But it was physically too small for us, we had three children. Now everyone’s doing it.”
Nationwide 151 suburbs have joined the $1 million median value-club since last year with Tasmania the only state not represented. Of these 98 were in NSW, 36 in VIC, eight in WA, four in QLD, three in SA and two in the ACT.
Queensland’s $1M median value suburbs:
Teneriffe, New Farm, Ascot, Hamilton, Surfers Paradise, Mermaid Beach, Bulimba, Chandler, Hawthorne, St Lucia, Burbank, Clayfield, Sunshine Beach, Tennyson, Gumdale, Fortitude Valley, Castle Hill, Chelmer, Pullenvale.
Original article published at www.couriermail.com.au by Sophie Foster 05/8/16