‘Bugger all to pick from’: Coast property owners holding their chips
Prospective property buyers on the Sunshine Coast have become “seagulls fighting over a chip”, with the number of listings half of what it used to be.
Simon Pressley, a researcher and managing director of property analysis firm Propertyology, said the number of current listings, 5800, was the lowest since 2012.
“Back in 2012, there were 12,000 properties listed for sale on the Sunshine Coast. We had double the number of properties for sale on the Sunshine Coast,” he said.
The combination of the low number of listings and ongoing migration to the Sunshine Coast from Brisbane and interstate meant buyers had little choice.
“They (buyers) are seagulls fighting over a chip at the moment because there’s bugger all to pick from, and that’s the reality at the moment,” Mr Pressley said.
A comparison of listing numbers on the Sunshine Coast in September this year compared to September last year showed a small percentage increase.
However, Real Estate Institute of Queensland zone chair Matt Diesel said listings over the last year or two were definitely down and by up to 50 to 60 per cent for some types of properties.
Mr Diesel said the shortage of listings also became a catch-22 by discouraging some property owners from putting their homes on the market.
“There’s a lot of sellers that would be on the market but can’t see what they want and are worried that if they sell up, they won’t be able to find anything,” he said.
Mr Diesel said people who tried to buy subject to sale could miss out while those who took the plunge of selling before buying had a better chance of scoring what they wanted.
Kyle Davies, sales manager at Henzells real estate in Caloundra, said the number of listings varied between suburbs.
“In Shelly Beach there’s only one property for sale, but in Aura there’s about 30 on the market,” he said.
“At Currimundi, on the western side of the Nicklin Way, there’s properties for $900,000 to $1.2 million, but on the other side it’s tightly held.”
Mr Davies pointed out that there to be a lot of “spec homes” and cheap units buoying listings.
He said a lot of people were also cautious about making real estate decisions in the current economic and political climate.
“This year we’ve gone through a lot of uncertainty with local government, state government and the Australian government and international governments. It does have a ripple effect,” he said.
“And also, people have been hoping that interest rates would come down and nothing’s changing until at least next year now.”.
