The Gold Coast is basking in a real estate boom, with apartment prices soaring to unprecedented levels.
Gold Coast Apartment and Real Estate Price Surge
The median apartment price along this scenic southern Queensland coastline reached $767,000 in the year’s first quarter, marking a 15% increase from the previous year.
This surge solidifies the Gold Coast as one of Australia’s most expensive apartment markets, second only to Sydney’s median of $806,137 and outpacing other capital cities by a significant margin.
The region’s transformation is evident from Coomera in the north to Coolangatta in the south, driven by a wave of interstate migration during the pandemic.
The Perfect Storm
Tolemy Stevens, a sales agent specialising in beachfront luxury apartments, highlights this migration as a pivotal moment for the Gold Coast. “Almost overnight, people realised the appeal of our lifestyle and how much the Gold Coast has matured over the last decade,” Stevens explained. “Couple that with the relatively low real estate prices compared to the southern states, and it was almost the perfect storm.”
In March 2020, apartments had a median price of $421,250 according to Domain Group data. Despite the dramatic price increases, the Gold Coast continues to attract a steady stream of new residents. “They keep coming in droves,” Stevens said. “There are more people wanting to move here than there are people moving out.”
Image from Booking.com
Supply Struggles to Meet Demand
This influx has outpaced the supply of new housing. Stevens notes a severe shortage of available properties, with developers unable to meet the surging demand. “If there were another 10, 20, 30 towers completed today, they would all be sold,” he said. “Developers are two to three years from being able to get anything off the ground, and many developments aren’t going ahead.”
Charter Keck Cramer’s latest State of the Market report supports Stevens’ observations, highlighting robust sales and continued price growth in the Gold Coast apartment market, despite challenges in the building and construction sector. Rising material costs and interest rate hikes have rendered some projects financially unviable.
High Demand Across All Price Brackets
Despite these challenges, construction continues along the waterfront, focusing on high-end developments. “Many recently launched projects are achieving strong sales and pricing results, especially those associated with well-regarded builders,” the report stated. However, affordable new dwellings are scarce.
Locals might feel like apartments are springing up everywhere, but agents confirm there’s still an undersupply. Orren Topolansky of Ray White Robina tracks stock levels and notes a significant drop from 10,000 properties on the market in 2017 to just above 4,000 today. “It’s stock levels that are driving prices,” Topolansky said, adding that older stock in Robina is trading strongly.
A Competitive Market
In Palm Beach, Leanne Frohmuller of LJ Hooker Southern Gold Coast sees a market driven by young couples seeking a beach lifestyle. “There are still a lot more buyers than there are properties,” Frohmuller said. The suburb offers a range from 1970s-style accommodations to multi-million-dollar beachfront properties. Recently, an original two-bedroom apartment sold at auction for $960,000, exemplifying the competitive market.
Further north, Stevens sold an entire-floor apartment in a boutique beachfront block for $6.5 million, a price equating to $2066 per square metre. “We’re still seeing an upswing in the price per square metre,” he noted. “It’s still aggressively on the rise.” High-end sales continue to attract cash buyers, with 12 registered cash bidders for a Broadbeach property recently.
Gallery images from Booking.com
Looking Ahead
As the Gold Coast continues its upward trajectory, both in population and property prices, the region stands out as a prime example of the pandemic-driven real estate boom. With demand far outstripping supply, it remains to be seen how the market will adapt in the coming years, but one thing is clear: the Gold Coast’s golden era is far from over.
All images in this article are from Booking.com with data and information from Domain
