THEY might not be the sexiest suburbs in Queensland, but buyers were falling over themselves to snare a house in Beerburrum, Thuringowa and Ferny Hills this year.
The state’s most in-demand suburbs — where houses sell the fastest and properties are under contract within hours of the opening inspections — are not the usual suspects.
The latest figures from property analytics company, CoreLogic, reveal Ferny Hills and Salisbury in Brisbane, Beerburrum on the Sunshine Coast and Thuringowa Central near Townsville had the fastest median days on market in the past year.
Houses in these areas sell in just 14 days — well below Brisbane’s average of 30 days.
Four of the top 10 fastest selling suburbs in the state are northwest of Brisbane’s CBD, and you can get an average house for under $600,000 in all but one of them.
Adrian Thompson of Ray White Keperra just sold a house at 21 Fleetwood Court, Ferny Hills, in two days, and recently sold another house at 19 Irruka Crescent in just six hours.
Mr Thompson said he had no trouble selling a house within 10 days in Brisbane’s northwestern suburbs and believed they were greatly undervalued.
“They’re very, very reasonably priced,” he said.
“They’ve always been very family friendly, leafy. And they’ve got good access to the train line.
“Most people don’t realise how close those suburbs are to the CBD.”
CoreLogic senior research analyst Cameron Kusher said many of Brisbane’s fastest selling suburbs had much in common, including reasonably cheap housing within 10-15km of the CBD and close to amenities.
“If you look at somewhere like Keperra, it’s still reasonably cheap given how close to the city it is, and there are good schools, local infrastructure and shopping close by,” Mr Kusher said.
“There’s also a lot of older stock which can be renovated pretty easily.”
Data from realestate.com.au shows soaring demand for Ferny Hills, with 1223 visits per property compared to the Queensland average of 322.
The three-bedroom, post-war house on a 658 sqm block, within walking distance to shops and the train, has been snapped up.
“There’s a lot of new people moving into the area,” Mrs Sandel said.
“When we first bought 24 years ago, it was the back flats, but now it’s really not far from the city at all.”
Mr Kusher said he was surprised to see Thuringowa and Holloways Beach on the top 10 list of fastest selling areas in Queensland.
“Cairns and Townsville haven’t been particularly strong markets, but a couple of areas there are clearly sought-after,” he said.
“I’m very surprised Thuringowa Central is on that list, considering median prices are down 15 per cent over the last year.
“It could be the fact prices have come back so much that locals are looking at it and saying ‘that’s pretty good value’.”
He said it was also unusual to see Beerburrum in such high demand and not other areas closer to the beach on the Sunshine Coast.
Mr Kusher said he had noticed a trend upwards in the number of days on market for houses in recent months.
“If we look at the rate of growth in the Brisbane housing market, it has slowed a bit in three to six months, so conditions are not as hot as they were,” he said.
“Fourteen days is still very quick rate of sale though.”
Mr Kusher said there had also been an increase in housing stock hitting the market, which could be having an impact.
The latest quarterly report from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland found house listings in Queensland increased 7.2 per cent in the 12 months to August.
FASTEST SELLING SUBURBS IN QUEENSLAND
Suburb Distance to Brisbane CBD Average days on market Median sale price
Ferny Hills 12 14 $540,000
Salisbury 9 14 $565,000
Beerburrum 57 14 $399,000
Thuringowa Central 1109 14 $250,000
Gaythorne 7 15 $666,750
Holloways Beach 4878 15 $387,500
Algester 16 16 $500,000
Jindalee 12 17 $560,000
Keperra 10 17 $535,000
Arana Hills 11 17 $534,990
Originally Published: www.news.com.au
