WHY SUNSHINE COAST HOUSE PRICES COULD GROW BY 40%

THE SUNSHINE COAST: NO LONGER BRISBANE’S YOUNGER SIBLING BUT WE STILL HAVE A LOT OF GROWING UP TO DO

For years the Sunshine Coast was seen as the younger sibling to Brisbane and sometimes also the Gold Coast, but the reality is the region is now growing at a rapid rate and outperforming our state’s capital.

BIS Oxford Economics recently released its Australian Housing Outlook for 2021-2024. In this report, it predicts over the next three years the median house price on the Sunshine Coast will grow by 19% to $986,000, beating Brisbane’s growth prediction of 18%. It states the rapid population growth on the Sunshine Coast recently has been enough to maintain market price growth at a faster pace than Brisbane. While it’s definitely accurate that the Queensland property market is experiencing a massive coastal shift, we believe the growth that’s coming will be much higher.

At Direct Collective we have the advantage of living and breathing everything Sunshine Coast. Based right in the heart of it all, we assist with buying and selling properties, we have people staying in our hotels, we have tenants in homes and also assist first home buyers and investors. When you couple all of this knowledge with our passion for analysing data and information, we are able to form strategic insider research that’s accurately specific to the region. Everything we do is based here, giving us unparalleled insight.

We recognise that median prices aren’t always the best measure of a region but it’s what we’ve got to work with for this given scenario thanks to the research recently released. All our modelling suggests between now and June 2024 the median house price will actually grow somewhere between the mid 20% mark and could be as high as 40%. This means the region could cross the million-dollar median house price somewhere in 2023.

So what does this mean? It’s time to level up.

As we’ve mentioned before, this means the housing market isn’t going through a ‘boom’ – the market will continue to increase and tighten. Housing is a basic human right, and a community needs diversity in housing to ensure you’ve got diversity in population to maintain the standard of living. Low-income workers are going elsewhere to work as they can’t afford to live here. They also can’t afford to commute back here to work because we don’t have a mass transit solution. This is an issue for everyone in this region.

Sunshine Coast Council recently voted to send a mass transit options analysis report to the state government to help form a $15 million detailed business case. The options being considered include a light rail system, wireless light rail, trackless trams, a bus rapid transit system, and a quality bus corridor to connect Kawana and Maroochydore. While there is plenty of heated debate around this topic, the reality is something needs to be done and soon. If you can’t move people more quickly and easily then they will drive, and with our population estimated to grow to more than half a million, our roads don’t have the capacity to handle this.

To us, it makes sense to take advantage of modern technology such as a trackless tram system, considering the Sunshine Coast is the only regional city in the world with access to the best broadband capacity through the undersea cable linked to Maroochydore. Trackless trams follow painted lines with extremely close accuracy by using laser technology and GPS positioning.

It’s also time to have conversations around how we can increase development in the region without sacrificing our lifestyle. While the median house price will soon reach $1 million, it’s vital we also provide accommodation for first home buyers, families, and downsizers. The Sunshine Coast is experiencing a massive undersupply at the moment (which has been building for 10 years), and we can only hope that eventually logic will prevail and measures will be put in place to create more housing.

As part of this, there also needs to be community education around how it’ll be done without building highrises on the beach. If we have pockets of high-density living, it won’t feel like we’re living on the Gold Coast or in Manhattan.

What can you do?

Now is the perfect time to take advantage of one of the most protracted upswing cycles of our region’s property history. When making predictions, at Direct Collective don’t look at previous data and experience. We take the time to understand what creates change and then we apply that to the current circumstances to be predictive of what the future holds. Book in for your free consultation with one of our property coaches, to find out what’s coming next and how you can leverage this unique opportunity.