- 396 new apartment sales occurred during the last quarter
- The median price for new apartments rose by 3.8% during the quarter, although below the record set during the September 2020 quarter
- Only 5.5 months of new supply left, despite significant volumes of new stock released recently
Newly released research has shown that the sales of new apartments on the Gold Coast edged higher during the June quarter.
The Colliers research found that the ongoing supply of shortage defied interest rate increases to push prices higher.
Supported by data from Urbis, it found that 396 sales of new apartments occurred during the quarter, from 377 sales during the previous quarter, highlighting the relative strength of the market, although this figure is below the record high of 742 during the March 2021 quarter.
Million-dollar price tag for new apartments
Notably, the median price for these apartments is $1.117 million – or 3.8% higher than the previous quarter and just shy of the $1.143 million record in the September quarter of 2020.
“The latest quarter’s sales may be slightly higher than the March quarter but well down on the extraordinary peak we saw in the first quarter of last year,” said David Higgins, the Director of Colliers Residential Gold Coast.
“However, sales over the 18 months to June this year have all been significantly higher on a quarterly basis than the preceding 18 months and that reflects sustained demand in the market even through the first two interest rate increases.”
David Higgins, Colliers
Across the 81 Gold Coast projects surveyed for the report, the number of apartments still for sale reached 875 , up from 411 during the March quarter thanks to more developments being released to the market.
Despite this rise, this leaves just 5.5 months of supply based on the current sales rate.
Colliers expects supply constraints and ongoing demand to drive prices even higher in the near term.
Steven King, Director in Charge of Colliers Gold Coast, said the findings in the report were reflective of the product shortage and continuing market strength.
“Supply of new apartments is falling due to the increased cost of construction, which for high rise apartment projects over the last 16 months has risen by more than 25 per cent,” said Mr King.
“Demand for new apartments remains solid but with a reduced supply of new projects and apartments, we expect apartment prices to continue rising especially if the supply shortage becomes more critical.”
2,073 new apartments sold across the Gold Coast in 2022
The report noted that the local market capped off 2,073 new apartment sales during the 2022 fiscal year.
Three-quarters of these were located across the coastal strip between Southport and Coolangatta, with 49% in the Gold Coast Central precinct itself which includes Broadbeach and Surfers Paradise. The Southern Beach precinct from Mermaid Beach to the southern border also made up for 26% if the total sales during the year.
Other key findings include a slight increase in offshore investors. 4% of sales during the quarter required Foreign Investment Review Board approval. During the March quarter, it was 3%.
“There’s an emerging trend of foreign purchasers gradually re-entering the southeast Queensland investment market,” said Mr Higgins.
“We’ve also noticed that the dynamic interest rate environment has had less of an effect on owner-occupier stock above $1.5 million in comparison to the bottom end of the market. Should they continue, both of these emerging trends will add another layer of continued demand pressure in the medium term.”
Mr Higgins concluded by reiterating that the sales momentum across the Gold Coast has been led by the apartment market over the past year.
During the nine months from the 2021 September quarter to the March quarter this year, house soles rose by 55.1% while apartments increased by 104.4%.
“The Gold Coast metro’s house market shows continued signs of growth, but at a slower rate, which is welcome news for buyers,” said Mr Higgins.
