In property folklore, spring is supposed to be the best time to sell your property and winter the worst, but that’s not necessarily the case in Queensland.
Queensland experts say that not only is winter a perfectly acceptable season to sell property but the “spring selling season” may actually be a myth.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland CEO Antonia Mercorella says that Queensland’s climate makes any season a good time to sell and spring is actually not that special at all.
“Queensland’s climate means that winter is not as limiting as it is in southern states, where biting frost and freezing cold conditions force people indoors for much of the time,” she says.
“The supporting data reveals that we do have fairly consistent sales volumes all year around, even though there is a persistent myth that spring is the best time to sell.
“In Queensland, spring brings with it some of our best weather and so it makes sense that auctions would be more popular, or that potential buyers would be out in greater numbers attending open homes, but we simply haven’t found that to be the case.”
While Queenslanders shiver through what is a temperate winter in reality, visitors from the southern states head to the Sunshine State in droves to escape a cold that is real.
Hordes of people head to the Gold Coast, which means that the property market there remains steady throughout winter.
“On the Gold Coast, it’s always been that the southerners would come up from interstate, especially people from Melbourne and those cooler areas, for the warmer months here,” Professionals Newlands Real Estate Surfers Paradise principal John Newlands says.
“That trend has been going for years and I think it will continue to keep happening because our winters are pretty mild and water temperatures are still good. We do still attract people to the sunshine and the nice lifestyle through those winter months.”
Newlands says the mix of visitors during winter has changed over the years with fewer large family groups from Melbourne heading north en masse.
But even though the demographic of visitors is now different, Newlands says selling property on the Gold Coast during winter remains a sound strategy.
“The coast has matured. We’re getting people from all parts of the world coming here now,” he says.
“Possibly 20 years ago [deciding not to sell in winter] might have been the case but now we have tourists and investors coming in from all over the world during all times of the year, so I don’t think it’s as relevant today as it used to be.”