In has been an unpredictable year for the Gold Coast property market, but as final sales conclude, we reveal the top 10 best-selling suburbs of 2020.
Despite a slow start, caused by market uncertainty in the face of the pandemic, confidence has grown in the past six months.
According to data compiled exclusively for The Gold Coast Bulletin by listings website realestate.com.au, more than 2,700 houses sold among the top ten suburbs alone as the city’s northern growth corridor forged ahead.
1011 Rosebank Way, Hope Island, is on sale through Harcourts Coastal.
Topping the best-sellers’ list was Upper Coomera, with 405 houses sold in the 12 months to November, pushing the median house price up by 5.1 per cent to $515,000.
The sprawling postcode is a hub of residential and commercial development, and is one of the northern suburbs earmarked to accommodate the bulk of the 350,000 people forecast to move to the Gold Coast over the next 20 years.
Nearby suburbs rounded out the top five, with well-to-do Hope Island in second place, clocking up 338 house sales, Coomera came in third with 313, followed by Helensvale where 306 houses changed hands.
This house at 6 Rigel Court, Robina, is $1.2 million through Ray White Gold Coast. Robina is No.5 on the top-selling suburbs list.
In fifth place, centrally located Robina bucked the northern trend, with 300 house sales, though the cosmopolitan surburb has also been identifed as one of the coast’s key urban hubs for new-housing development.
Deborah Andree of Ray White Helensvale/Oxenford said first-home buyers had been very active in the Upper Coomera area in the second half of the year, driving prices up as they competed for limited stock.
She said desperate buyers regularly placed offers up to 10 per cent above asking price, particularly for larger properties and those in near-new condition.
“I’ve been in real estate for 12 years, predominantly in the Upper Coomera area, and I’ve never seen such a strong buyers’ market. It’s very frustrating not to have the stock to fill their needs,” Ms Andree said.
In the top-selling suburb of Upper Coomera, 15 Stone Creek Drive is for sale for offers of more than $765,000 with Ray White.
“People looking to sell are finding it hard to get into the market because they are scared they won’t find a new house. They really need to be listing because all of our buyers are paying crazy money, and by waiting it out these owners are missing out on some great prices.”
Ryan Appleby realised his homeowner dreams at age 21 when he bought a three-bedroom townhouse at Upper Coomera marketed by Ms Andree in July.
The first-year mechanic apprentice paid $362,250 for the property in the Catalina Park Estate after saving for years for the deposit, and he now rents out two rooms to help cover the mortgage.
Ryan Appleby oustide his Upper Coomera townhouse. Photo: Scott Powick
“I knew I wanted to start early and get into the market and the townhouses in this complex are so big for the price,” Mr Appleby said.
“This area hasn’t always been so good but it is now quite a nice up-and-coming area and with the Hope Island overpass the traffic is good too,” he said.
“There’s lots of growth and it’s central to everything.”
Andrew Henderson, Gold Coast chair of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, said affordability and improved infrastructure along the northern growth corridor were big drawcards for home buyers, with government incentives including the $15,000 First Home Owners and $25,000 Home Builder Grants giving more young people the break they needed to enter the property market in 2020.
Andrew Henderson, Gold Coast zone chair for the REIQ
“All of these areas have really good access to the M1 so there is the benefit of convenient access to Brisbane but still having that great Gold Coast lifestyle,” Mr Henderson said.
While COVID-19 caused fear to ripple through the market in the first part of 2020, the realisation of remote working for many had spurred interstate migration, with much of that growth centred on the more affordable large residential housing developments in the northern suburbs.
“I think with advances in technology and the general shift of mindset that has come through this year, a lot more people are able to work from home and realising they can have the great weather and the great lifestyle benefits of the Gold Coast as part of that decentralised work force from the capital cities.”
Rounding up the top 10 list is Tamborine Mountain where 54-56 Alpine Terrace is on sale for $1.35 million through Scenic Properties.
Rounding out the coast’s top-selling suburbs in 2020 were Pimpama, Pacific Pines, Ormeau, Nerang and Tamborine Mountain.
Of the top 10, Hope Island had the highest median sale price of $950,000, while the lowest was Pimpama at $455,000, which also laid claim to last year’s fastest-growing suburb in Australia outside a capital city, Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows.
Pacific Pines posted the most impressive growth in median sale price of 10.2 per cent to $595,000.
Viva Hyde
