WHY SUNSHINE COAST HOUSE PRICES AREN’T DROPPING

The Sunshine Coast community is quite lucky when it comes to winter. For us it means (mostly) beautiful sunny days, the mercury rarely drops below 10 degrees and when it does we might swap our sandals for sneakers that day and dust off the coat in the back of the cupboard. What else is pretty standard, is the property market cools a little too, but it’s not cause for concern.

Traditionally when there is less activity happening, it is usually houses in the lower end of the market that continue to sell and the higher end holds off until activity picks up. This then results in lower median prices being reported…because that’s what is selling at the time and a ‘median’ is the middle sale…not because house prices are ‘falling’. This is why we reiterate a region’s ‘median’ is not a clear indicator and should not be used when determining if prices are dropping. If in one month you have a lot of high-end sales happening, and then the next month a lot more activity happens in the lower end of the market the middle sale price, the median, will be lower or ‘drop’, but is not a reflection of overall house price trends.

A news article was released this week by the Sunshine Coast Daily with the headline ‘Sunshine Coast property: New data reveals where house, unit prices have declined’. The article is based on median data. It is also quoted in the article that the Sunshine Coast is transitioning back to a ‘normal’ phase.

Information like this can be very misleading for people looking to purchase or invest in the region. It encourages some people to sit back and wait to buy, as they have been misled into a false sense of security that prices will continue to drop if they are dropping now. Let us warn you now, if you wait, you will most likely miss out as we don’t see prices dropping anytime soon, quite the opposite as demand for our region continues to rise and supply just can’t keep up.

Yes – right now there are less people at auctions.

Yes – that means less competition when buying a house.

Yes – this is normal for winter!

No – we are not back to pre-covid ‘normal for winter’. We are still seeing higher demand for this time of the year. It would be more accurate to say what is happening now is a ‘summer normal’ pre-covid.

Yes – as summer rolls around, we anticipate the demand will once again increase along with the prices.

No – prices are not dropping

There are also statistics quoted about metropolitan cities and Australia as a whole and how prices are ‘falling’. What is crucial to remember is the Sunshine Coast is in such a unique position, and on a trajectory unmatched by any other place in the country.

The opportunity and lifestyle on offer at the moment puts the region in a position to be the greatest city in Australia – we just need to ensure careful planning is put in place to harness the demand.

Read our latest research report to gain a comprehensive understanding of why we have made this big claim.

If you want to find out how you can leverage this opportunity, book in for a free chat with one of our expert property coaches.