House hunters struggling to find their dream home are not alone, with more than 3000 fewer properties on the market compared to a year ago.
Latest CoreLogic data shows there were 26,152 Gold Coast properties listed in January 2019 while there were 22,519 last month – 3633 fewer than last year.
Of those listings, 1474 were new to the market in January last year while 926 were listed last month.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) director John Newlands said there were several reasons people weren’t listing their houses.
“People are holding on (to their homes) one, hoping the prices are going to go up more, two, it’s hard to get the finance again and three, I think the gap between what they’ve got and what they want is significant,” he said.
“It makes it challenging in that agents are finding they don’t have the same stock levels to be able to offer clients.” When is the best time to sell or buy? Property cycles explained
He said interstate investors were turning to the Gold Coast for property because it offered a better return than the banks were adding further pressure to the market.
Prospective buyers looking for property under $400,000 had more options, Mr Newlands said, while those priced between $600,000 and $800,000 were much harder to come by.
Industry experts say the short supply is ramping up competition for properties across the Coast, with prices surging and the number of days properties are spending on the market falling.
REIQ Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson told the Bulletin last week many people were also reluctant to sell their houses because they believed they wouldn’t find anywhere else to move to.
Jessica Brown
