New Gold Coast apartment prices surge $500,000 in six months as investors return
The average price for new apartments sold on the Gold Coast has risen more than $500,000 in the past six months as sustained demand and dwindling supply combined with a sharp rise in interstate investor activity and construction costs continue to impact property values.
The Urbis Apartment Market Essentials report for the March quarter has revealed that new apartment sales achieved a weighted average sale price of $1.73 million, the highest since Urbis began monitoring the new apartment market in 2014.
This is up from $1.67 million in the December quarter, and $1.13 million in September quarter.
The Gold Coast recorded 240 new apartment sales in the three months to the end of March, on par with the 236 sales in the previous quarter, which Urbis director Paul Riga says highlights the consistency of demand.
“Price growth has been a key feature of the latest data along with a strong resurgence of investor activity,” Riga said.
“Interstate investors in the latest quarter have overtaken owner-occupiers at the rate of 38 per cent versus 29 per cent of total sales. Local investors accounted for 20% of sales and overseas buyers 13%.
“This is a significant shift from the trend of recent years when we saw an all-time high of 65 per cent owner-occupier sales in 2020 during the peak of the pandemic.
“While the owner-occupier market remains strong, the latest quarter possibly signals a return to long-term trends as prior to 2016 owner occupiers accounted for 30 per cent of sales.”
Urbis data shows that 59 per cent of sales comprised two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments, which is typically favoured by investors, while 29 per cent of sales were three-bedroom apartments.
“The low level of new supply coming to the market is keeping conditions tight, with only two new projects yielding a total of 112 apartments launched on the Gold Coast during the first quarter of 2024.”
Urbis has again reiterated that the broader Gold Coast market remains undersupplied, with just 1,396 apartments remaining for sale which is the lowest since the end of 2022.
Nearly all of the sales in the March quarter were made in the traditional Surfers Paradise-Broadbeach precinct, with the main contributors being V&A Broadbeach, Crest Broadbeach and 26 Vista.
“That’s understandable as 92 per cent of the remaining supply is located in the Gold Coast Central Precinct,” Riga added.
“All other precincts on the Coast remain in undersupply.”
Of the 240 total sales recorded during the quarter, 229 were located in Surfers Paradise, Chevron Island, Broadbeach, and Main Beach.
“The Central Precinct is heading back to its roots with current and future projects moving to higher density and multiple-tower projects post-pandemic.
“Looking ahead, the majority of apartments in future supply are also located in the precinct so the strong sales rates should continue.”
The heightened buyer activity in the Gold Coast Central Precinct led to a weighted average sale price of $1.7 million during the first three months of this year which is also the highest since Urbis began monitoring the new apartment market a decade ago.
Almost all of the sales across the Gold Coast, or 91 per cent of them, during the quarter were priced at more than $1 million, while the remaining nine per cent were priced from $600,000 to $999,999.
