A home in Waghorn St in Woodend sold in November for $1.09 million, while just up the road a home in Burnett St sold for $1.11 million this month.
June Frank from Walkers Real Estate believes it is further proof that Ipswich is becoming a destination for home buyers looking for value in their investment.
“The replacement value alone along with the huge block means that they represented great value for money,” Ms Frank, who handled both sales, said.
“If you’d have bought that house in Waghorn St and done all the work that the owners had done over the last 20 years in a short time you’d be looking at a sale price of $1.8 million to get your money back.
“I’m finding families from Brisbane all the time at open homes. You go to the northside of Brisbane and for $700,000 you’re lucky to get a two or three-bedroom home, but here you can buy a palace for $500,000 on a big block.”
Local agent and Real Estate Institute of Queensland representative Darren Boettcher believes the fact Ipswich now has million dollar homes it will drive the prices up from the bottom, not the top down.
“A few years ago you could pick up a property for under $100,000,” Mr Boettcher said.
“Then it crept up to $150,000 and I think 18 months from now you won’t get anything in Ipswich for under $250,000 the way things are going. While the average price in Ipswich is now $320,000, it really is a seller’s market.”
“Things are moving up in Ipswich. When I got into this business in 1991, there were two sales people and we had 135 listings. Today we have 135 buyers and one listing, that’s how things are now. There just aren’t enough houses for sale in Ipswich. The population growth and infrastructure has changed things. Eastern Heights for example has gone up 30 per cent in five years.”
Source: www.qt.com.au