Top Headlines Week 28, 2022
- Posted By David Brown
A $6.9 million waterfront lot has just hit the market. The property currently only has a derelict beach house. It is perfect for prestige market investors. The property is located in Mission Beach in Queensland far-north coast. The lot is 19.18 hectares and would be ideal to build a new resort. Mission Beach is recognised as a prestigious holiday destination, the property also already has approved plans for the development of a resort or apartments. It is also only a 550-metre walk to the Mission Beach village. Zoning also allows for a three-storey structure to be built to take advantage of the 200-metre beachfront. Mission Beach is a two-hour drive south of Cairns. With extremely limited beachfront land remaining in Mission Beach especially a lot this large, it is not an opportunity that an investor will want to miss.
Property vendors in the Gold Coast are slashing asking prices in attempt to secure sales are the market declines post-pandemic. The market begun to slow as the RBA drastically increased interest rates over the past few months to combat rapid inflation. This has led to an increase in “distressed sales”, and it is expected that more are to come. SQM research data has shown that nationally in June there were 6014 residential properties selling under destressed conditions. The Gold Coast has shown the highest level of vendor discounting across Queensland. “Southeast Queensland had always had more distressed sales compared to other regions around the country” says Louis Christopher from SQM Research. As interest rates continue to rise it is expected that more distressed listings will hit the market and could return to pre-pandemic levels. The frenzy that was seen during the pandemic, where almost every property sold was setting a record, the market is no levelling out.
Brisbane Council is making steps forward to continue with the plans for the Olympic sporting precinct, which will be located on Harness Racing track in the city’s inner north. The proposed precinct will have a 12-court indoor arena, located on a 29ha flood-prone site. There were concerns that the plans included commercial and residential development, but it has been confirmed that this is not the case. The indoor sports centre is in preparation for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic and although the games are still a decade away, plans and infrastructure need to be confirmed and started now. The indoor sports centre will comprise of 12 basketball courts which will also accommodate basketball, badminton, volleyball, goalball, and wheelchair rugby. The Brisbane Council is working closely with Queensland Urban Utilities on flood migration strategies for overland flow and water harvesting to irrigate the fields as both Albion and Breakfast creek were severely impacted during the recent Brisbane floods. This is the first of many new infrastructure plans that Brisbane will see in preparation for the Olympic Games.
A home is Varsity Lakes is the second to sell over $2 million and set a new price record for the suburb. The five-bedroom property is located on the banks of Lake Orr and has sold for $2.27 million. The home has the capacity for dual living and was last sold in 2015 for $1 million. The previous record for the suburb was set in March selling for $2.08 million. Varsity Lakes is often in the shadows of Robina and Burleigh Heads as they are more well-known. Buyers that have been priced out of those suburbs are looking to Varsity Lakes as a better and more attainable option. Especially with more infrastructure planned for the area, more buyers will be looking at properties in the area. Over the past quarter price growth has dropped 3.2% but is still at 22% growth for the year.
Australia has seen the strongest annual growth in rental prices in 14 years. In the most recent Domain Rent Report for the June quarter 2022, it shows the rental crisis is far from over, and it expected to continue to worsen over the coming months. In both the house and unit markets across all capitals have seen their longest stretch of rental price growth, for the fifth consecutive quarter house rents have been on the rise, and the fourth consecutive quarter unit rents have increased. Although the rate of increases has slowed, it does not alleviate the pressure that tenants are already feeling. In Brisbane unit rents have seen an increase of 12.5% over the past year. Rising from $400 per week to $450 per week, which is an increase of $2,600 annually. Rents in the housing market in Brisbane have increased 16.9% over the pat year, from $445 per week to $520 per week, which is an extra $3,900 annually. As interest rates are still expected to rise over the coming months this will not slow the increase of rents.