THE bad days of a slow housing market are over for Ipswich.
That’s what real estate agent Darren Boettcher has tipped on the back of new data that shows Ipswich house prices are at their strongest level in several years.
Mr Boettcher, who is the Ipswich zone chairman for the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, said there was a number of signs that Ipswich had moved on from a slumped market that has affected sellers since as far back as 2010.
“The bad days are over,” Mr Boettcher said.
“Prices have stopped going down and if they’re not going up, than they are staying steady.”
RPData figures for August 2014 to August 2015 show house prices have gone up in the majority of Ipswich suburbs, particularly newer and developing suburbs.
In one section of Springfield Lakes, 334 homes were sold for a median price of $414, 968 – a growth of 5.1%.
Redbank house prices grew by 11.7% in the year to $301,000.
In Yamanto, 162 homes sold for a median price of $420,000, a stand-out growth of 24.6% in one year and 21.7% in three years.
One section of East Ipswich sold 51 homes with a median price of $279,000, giving a 13.4% growth in price over 12 months and a whopping 19.1% growth in three years.
Prices in one section of North Ipswich grew by 5.5% to have a median house price of $265,000 across 114 homes.
REIQ’s own figures show similar good news, with the state body labelling Ipswich a stand out performer in a different period from July to September 2015.
“House sales over the quarter were up 12% in Ipswich, while the annual trend in house listings were up 3.6%,” an REIQ statement said.
The Ipswich market is attracting buyers across all fields, from first home buyers to investors.
Bidders packed out the auction room at Ray White Ipswich’s office on Friday afternoon as three properties went under the hammer.
The first to sell was a block of units in North Ipswich, which went to an investor for $808,000 after a heated round of bidding.
Ray White Ipswich principal Warren Ramsey agreed with the predicted growth backed by the REIQ and RPData figures.
“We’ve got a short supply of houses now, which we have not had since 2011,” he said.
Mr Ramsey called on first home buyers to get their act together or miss the chance to capitalise on growth happening under their noses.
“They’ve just got to refocus on where they can afford to buy, not just where they want to live,” he said.
With an oversupply of townhouses and units in some suburbs, Mr Boettcher said those also represented a good investment for younger buyers not yet looking for a house.
The positive predictions for the Ipswich market is a departure from the concern for the national market.
In October, a Macquarie Bank report anticipated national housing prices could actually drop by 7.5% in the next two years.
