There’s been a lot of speculative doom and gloom stories written about Australia’s residential property markets over the last few months. One region that’s shown to be exceptionally resilient is Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. After initial spikes in rental vacancy rates March/April at the peak of the Covid19 lockdowns, this market has shown a considerable tightening ever since.
Vacancy Rates August 2019 and August 2020 according to SQM Research
Brisbane down from 2.5% to 2.1%
Sunshine Coast down from 1.6% to 0.6%
According to Residential property researcher Michael Matusik, vacancy rates under 2% suggests a significant shortfall of suitable rental accommodation. Typically, when the vacancy rate is under 2%, weekly rents start to rise.
According to Hotspotting’s Winter 2020 Price Predictor Report, the Sunshine Coast has 19 suburbs at different price points that have consistent or rising sales volumes. From the report “We continue to rate The Sunshine coast, one of the strongest economic and real estate stories in the nation, and it has produced another solid result in this Winter Survey.”
What’s the reason?
We now see an evident COVID/ZOOM/MEET/TEAM related change to how we want to live our lives. Lifestyle has become a priority over proximity to work/restaurants, bars.
Having lived the last 25 years in buzzing inner Sydney and commuting to Brisbane the previous three years, we made a move to the Sunshine Coast early March with absolutely no regrets. We work full time and still travel regularly to Brisbane (1 hour) to inspect and purchase property as well as meeting customers. We also spend a lot of time doing the same on the Sunshine Coast. In between, we sneak in bush/beach swims and walks morning, lunch and night. Did I mention the seasonal tropical produce? We buy our seafood, fresh and straight off the trawler.
Montville Walking trails
With the expedited take up in new business technologies like Zoom/Meet and Teams due to the virus, our lifestyle on the Sunshine Coast could not be better. Do we miss the city? No, not for a minute. We only miss our friends and family down south.
As written in many recent articles, this is a trend which will grow and regional centres with good infrastructure within 2 hours drive of a capital city will be the beneficiaries. The Sunshine Coast is one such region set to capitalise.
Like with all regions there are markets within markets and the Susnhine Coast property market is no different. There are many different price points, rental yields, as well as different risk factors. It’s important to do your research and look for locations well served by a variety of employment, health and leisure options.
What does the Sunshine Coast have to offer apart from a laidback lifestyle? Here are some handy links to what’s happening now and planned for the future. I’ll give you a tip it’s pretty bright.
