Gold Coast Property Looking Good for 2016
At an annual auction hosted by Ray White, it was evident that the market for residential real estate on The Gold Coast is making a slow comeback based upon a 60 percent clearance rate at the event.
A total of 45 of the 105 properties available there at auction were sold, according to the CEO of Ray White Surfers Paradise, Andrew Bell.
Bell also stated that the numbers are not so out of the ordinary for the Gold Coast Market where many buyers tend to be still conservative on pricing.
In addition, he said that a portion of sellers seem to think that we could be projecting a bit ahead of where we really are.
The fact is that 30 of the 57 properties up for auction had sold for $27.6 million by 4.40pm Sydney time.
There were 251 plus registered bidders passing through the gates with the intent of snapping up one of the hinterland acreages, canal view mansions or exclusive high-rise tower penthouses being auctioned off at The Event.
Although a wide gap existed between sellers and buyers on such properties as the palatial homes located at 3183 Riverleigh Drive, Hope Island and 32 Admiralty Drive, Paradise Waters; there was some heated bidding on others like a mortgagee in possession.
One such mortgagee-in-possession apartment at 5 Lawson Street, Southport Central was sold for $488,000 to Queenie and Sam Ge.
According to Mr. Ge, they simply bought the property because his wife liked it and because they weren’t really sure where property values are headed.
He owns a travel agency called FIT Travel. He further stated that he would have spent $500,00 if need be, but since it didn’t go that high although it was getting up there, they will possibly be able to purchase the property without having to borrow.
Most of the properties sold at the huge one-day auction were more cheaper apartments and houses. According to Mr Bell, the sales volumes at the market’s top-end have been quite light.
He further stated, however, that he thinks they will be seeing four to maybe five $5 million sales, plus another sale at over $10 million over the upcoming few months.
He also believes that this will start giving people a lot more confidence that the market is starting to move again.
House and apartment prices are prime for increases on the Gold Coast in 2016.
Louis Christopher, SQM Research’s Managing Director, who has been consistently predicting the Sydney housing price boom, has predicted as much as 11 percent growth in Gold Coast property pricing this year.