Joel Davis,
Strategic Director at Image Property.
Sunshine Coast Set To Benefit From New Investors And Residents
By Joel Davis, Image Property
Continuing a trend that is becoming more apparent day by day, the Sunshine Coast is definitely in the sights of interstate investors and migrants, according to new research.
The 2020 PIPA Annual Investor Sentiment Survey was recently released, with the results showing that the coast is on the wish-list of plenty of people around the nation.
The survey found a surge in the number of investors keen to buy in regional and coastal locations over the next year.
In fact, the proportion of investors that say regional markets are the most appealing has increased to 22% from 15% in 2019, with coastal locations also on the rise – up to nearly 12% from 8% last year, according to the survey.
It’s also important to keep in mind that the majority of survey respondents were from Sydney and Melbourne so it’s not Queenslanders considering buying a property on the coast.
Investors on the move
On top of more investors keen to invest in regional and coastal locations, a fair proportion also want to move to these areas post-pandemic, too.
Indeed, more than 17% of survey respondents indicated that COVID-19 had made them consider moving to another location.
The main reasons for their desire to shift were improved lifestyle factors (78%), working from home in the future (46%) and housing affordability (40%), according to the survey.
Plus, two of their top three picks for relocation were regional Qld (18%) and Brisbane (16%).
Image Property Sunshine Coast agent Nathan Christmas has been fielding plenty of enquiries, as well as handling a number of sight-unseen sales, from southern buyers over the past few months.
The volume of this sort of enquiry and sales was so high that he appeared on The Today Show to discuss the phenomenon!
“The pandemic has made us all re-evaluate our lives, but especially people in Melbourne and Victoria generally who have had to deal with some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world,” he says.
“I’m receiving enquiries or offers from potential interstate buyers for nearly every listing I have on the Sunshine Coast.
“Many are buying sight unseen so they are ready to relocate here as soon as they can.”
More demand than supply
This increased demand from new interstate migrants, but also from within Queensland as well, has created a situation where there is definitely more demand than supply in the sales and rental markets.
According to SQM Research, the asking price of houses on the Sunshine Coast has increased by 3.1% over the past three months – a pretty impressive result given we’re in the midst of global health emergency.
Likewise, the coast’s rental market is struggling with an extremely low volume of supply.
After a temporary increase in April, the Sunshine Coast vacancy rate is only 0.6 per cent – the lowest its been in a decade – with this undersupply of rental property starting to increase rents.
There is no question that the Sunshine Coast market appears to be poised for good times over the next few years.
Sellers who are keen to make the most of the current strong demand should not delay listing their properties – because the only real certainty we currently have is that we know that the Sunshine Coast market is firing on all cylinders.
