Looking to keep ahead of the curve

In Brisbane, enquiries for units in new developments having jumped 82% in the past month, compared with the same time last year, while interest in buying houses off-the-plan is up more than 28%, according to new research by the property website Realestate.com.au.

On the Sunshine Coast, the property sector will bounce back post COVID-19 in line with the pandemic. South East Queensland’s fundamentals stay strong, according to Mosaic Property Group which has crunched the numbers.

Mosaic founder and managing director, Brook Monahan said their internal research team had studied in great detail historical trends, while closely monitoring current local, national and global economic indicators and their likely impact on Australia’s core residential property markets.

“It is important to note that the Australian property market fundamentals, particularly South East Queensland’s, remain strong, despite the market volatility COVID-19 is causing,” Mr Monahan said.

“While there is understandable uncertainty within the community at present, the current climate has seen an increase in demand for the remaining luxury apartments in Avalon at Maroochydore and First Bay at Coolum Beach.

“This is largely due to buyers recognising the opportunity to secure product of this calibre, in rare, highly sought after locations, is going to be extremely rare moving forward, even more so because the crisis is leading to projects being further delayed or shelved.

“High-quality residential property in in-demand areas with low current and future supply, delivered by trusted brands with a strong track record, will hold up very well in the short-term and lead price growth when general confidence returns post the worst of the virus”.

The top end of the market is holding up particularly well, Mr Monahan said. “They understand that the situation, while severe, is short-term”.

“With the view that we will be out of this crisis in a year, buying off-the-plan is ideal as it means locking in a brand-new highly exclusive property at today’s prices with only a 10% deposit and with the added advantage of a potential increase in value on completion, at a point in the future when property is leading the way for a strong economic recovery here in Australia; mid-2021 onwards.

“Avalon is very close to being 100%sold with just under 12 months until construction is complete and we anticipate First Bay to sell out
before construction commences mid this year. “We are also experiencing consistent new lead volumes for these projects.

“Now is a good time to buy. The Sunshine Coast’s fundamentals remain as strong as they were pre this current crisis”.

“The combination of record infrastructure investment, population and employment growth, and housing supply shortages positions
property, particularly off-the-plan property, as the most compelling investment opportunity right now.”

Mr Monahan said South East Queensland would be far less impacted in the short-term given the severe housing supply shortages, further exacerbated by a continuing fall in construction activity in 2020. “This will place additional pressure on the need for high-quality in-fill housing by early 2021.

“Already SEQ is nearly three years past its peak supply from the previous cycle, compared to Melbourne and Sydney which have only just
reached this point. SEQ has also not experienced the same price growth that Melbourne and Sydney achieved in the most recent cycle- Brisbane is currently far more affordable”.

“As a consequence, it proved to be a far more resilient and robust market during the most recent downturn (2017-2019). It will continue to remain more resilient than Sydney and Melbourne in the 12 months .”

Source: Sunshine Coast Daily – 16/04/2020