CASHED-UP interstate buyers are swapping Sydney investment properties for holiday homes on the Gold Coast.
Interstate buyers are outbidding foreign investors for Gold Coast property, spurred to purchase in the tourist capital by red hot prices in southern capitals.
Property experts tip the Gold Coast to attract more interstate interest in 2017.
Harcourts Coastal agent Tolemy Stevens said, in the past 12 months, more than 80 per cent of luxury property sales have been to Sydney and Melbourne buyers.
“These people are after absolute beachfront homes and apartments that they can’t buy in their home cities for the price,” he said.
“They are mostly professional couples who own beautiful homes in the big cities but find expensive Gold Coast properties more affordable than properties in their home city.
“Gold Coast beachfront property represents value and the buyers are able to stretch their cash.”
Mr Stevens said interstate buyers are aware that the Gold Coast market is on the rise and are targeting absolute beachfront locations from Main Beach to Coolangatta.
Multimillion-dollar deals he has recently sealed for Sydney buyers include 702/252 Hedges Av, Mermaid Beach, 9/3 Garfield Tce and 15/20 Old Burleigh Rd, both in Surfers Paradise.
Mr Stevens said the appetite for luxury beachfront homes has led to a stock shortage.
“There are only so many homes to snap up in a tightly held area,” he said.
Heightened interest in the Gold Coast comes as the nation experiences a housing affordability crisis.
Data from the Australian Bureau of Statics shows that, while 67,496 people migrated to Sydney in 2014, just 14,177 people left the city, and 31,725 moved to the Gold Coast from across Australia.
The Australian Government’s 2016 Treasury Working Paper revealed that most Gold Coast property buyers were Australians.
It said foreign demand accounted for only a small proportion of purchases and had little impact on property prices in recent years.
It said Australian migration, higher incomes and interest rates were the main factors driving property prices upwards.
The research showed a nationwide 42.2 per cent rise in property values over the past four and a half years with Sydney prices jumping 67.3 per cent and Melbourne prices by 46.3 per cent.
Bob Reed and wife Judyth Preston are among many Sydney residents to quit the southern capital and buy a Surfers Paradise penthouse in 2016.
“I practice in Sydney and go back during tax season but I have always had a soft spot for the Gold Coast,” said the semi-retired accountant.
Originally Published at: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/
