Mackay region: Property prices boom in tourism hotspots despite border closures
Like many tourism-based regions, the past 18 months have presented many challenges to the Whitsunday region.
Closed borders have resulted in a dramatic reduction in the number of tourists and backpackers right across the Airlie Beach-Cannonvale-Proserpine region, but that hasn’t stymied the local property market, with median values, and demand, for both houses and units on the boil.
And it is leading to a drop in vendor discounting right across the region.
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Abell Point Marina, Airlie Beach. Destination Whitsunday
PRD Whitsunday CEO Annette Neil said sales growth was strong right across the 4802 postcode, taking in the Airlie Beach, Cannonvale, Jubilee Pocket and Proserpine localities. PRD second quarter data shows that median price growth over the past year was at 7.6 per cent for houses and 18.4 per cent for units.
“Land has cooled a bit because government grants have finished now (but) land was going nuts last year and the start of this year,” Ms Neil said.
“Units are becoming popular with people from down south looking for a holiday property – something they can buy, visit, then maybe holiday let for the rest of the year.
“With houses, we are seeing a lot of high-wealth people looking to move to the area.
“They are looking for that higher end of the scale, sea-view type property. Top level properties in Airlie Beach have had massive price growth.”
The latest REA Market Trends report for September shows the current median house price in Airlie Beach is now $850,000, a 29.8 per cent increase over 12 months.
“I feel that it is a generational change,” Ms Neil said.
“Massive events in the past, 9/11, for example, changed the world.
“I think Covid is like that. It is going to change the way we live.
“We are seeing people rethinking living in a densely populated area, and moving to more sparsely populated regional areas.”
Is it any wonder with this in the backyard?. Pic: supplied.
Buyers are being drawn to regional areas due to their affordability, with house budgets getting more bang for buck outside of the major cities.
In the northern reaches of the Whitsunday region, Bowen is presenting a rising residential market.
One Bowen-based realtor said that there had been a marked change in the market since late last year, with the agency closing sales exceeding the asking price at least once a week.
“We have had 311 residential sales in the past 12 months, compared to 190 in the 12 months previous to that,” the agent said.
“That gives an indication of how much the market has increased.”
The realtor said buyers in Bowen were owner occupiers, rather than investors.
But there were older buyers coming out of NSW and Victoria, many of whom had gotten to know the region during their “grey nomad travels”.
REA Group data shows an 18.9 per cent growth in median house price for Bowen in the past year to September.
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BREAKOUT BOX
Vendor discounts (change from listing to selling price) are on a downwards trend, pointing a shift to a seller’s market in Airlie Beach-Cannonvale-Proserpine localities
HOUSES:
• Q1 2020: -6.0%
•↓ Q2 2020: -3.9%
•↓ Q1 2021: -3.6%
•↓ Q2 2021: -2.3%
UNITS:
•Q1 2020: -6.4%
•↑ Q2 2020: -8.4%
•↓ Q1 2021: -4.3%
•↓Q2 2021: -1.9%
Source: PRD Real Estate Whitsundays Market Update 2nd Half 2021