Australian Property News

Mining towns lead in sales volumes

Posted on Tuesday, November 22 2011 at 4:50 PM

Upward pressure on rents in Queensland continues as buyers stand on the sidelines waiting for a bigger bargain, while mining suburbs lead the way in sales volumes with cashed-up miners giving a much-needed boost to tourism hotspots, according to PRDnationwide's Queensland Sales Overview report.

PRDnationwide research director and report author Aaron Maskrey said that as a result of decreasing demand to purchase property, many markets within Queensland are seeing increased competition for rental premises, placing further pressure on rents.

"In turn this could see greater investor activity as yields increase and become more attractive," he said.

The stability and affordability of several Queensland property markets have already enticed investors to re-enter, said Maskrey. "The Whitsundays, that has been affected by not only poor sentiment, but natural disasters and a decline in tourism has started to show green shoots, with attention arriving from the large disposable income of the fly-in fly-out miners."

He said the combination of historically low sales activity, softening capital values, and increasing rental yields create the perfect conditions for buying a discounted property primed for strong returns.

The half-year period to June 2011 saw a 22.8 per cent softening in overall sales volumes for Queensland compared to the previous year, however mining suburbs bucked the trend, said Maskrey.

Mining suburbs attracting an increase in sales activity compared to the June half-year in 2010 were: Gracemere (37 additional sales), Calliope (26 additional sales), and Dysart (24 additional sales).

Meanwhile coastal town Tannum Sands saw an increase of 26 sales due to its close proximity to the mining activity in Gladstone.

"The growth of these markets is a direct result of strong investment and the availability of high paid employment within these areas," said Maskrey.

"Of the top 20 growth suburbs across Queensland only Gordon Park and Wynnum (both located in Brisbane), Mudgeeraba and Clear Island Waters (both located on the Gold Coast) were localities not considered to be in mining regions."

Maskrey said that the largest softening in sales numbers for the June 2011 half-year period occurred in The Gap, Buderim and Forest Lake.

"When looking at the median house prices in the top 20 list, only one suburb (Atherton) has experienced growth over the 12-month period ending June 2011, increasing by five per cent," said Maskrey.

In the top 20 sales softening list only one suburb, The Gap, didn't experience negative growth.

*Queensland’s strongest increase* in house sales activity**
			Median price		Sales activity
Rank	Suburb	Region	June 2011 half-year	Annual growth	June 2010 half-year	June 2011 half-year	Annual change	Volume change
1	Gracemere	Fitzroy	$342,500	3%	59	96	63%	37
2	Calliope	Calliope	$430,000	11%	52	78	50%	26
3	Tannum Sands	Calliope	$485,000	7%	29	55	90%	26
4	Dysart	Broadsound	$465,000	15%	21	45	114%	24
5	Capella	Peak Downs	$295,000	4%	6	29	383%	23
6	Bushland Beach	Thuringowa	$420,000	-1%	41	60	46%	19
7	Moranbah	Belyando	$486,500	9%	80	98	23%	18
8	South Gladstone	Gladstone	$395,000	12%	30	47	57%	17
9	Mudgeeraba	Gold Coast	$467,500	-6%	84	100	19%	16
10	Bongaree	Caboolture	$390,000	-2%	42	58	38%	16
11	Rural View	Mackay	$451,000	-6%	22	38	73%	16
12	Clinton	Gladstone	$428,750	13%	75	90	20%	15
13	West Mackay	Mackay	$368,000	-4%	55	69	25%	14
14	Bohle Plains	Thuringowa	$438,000	-4%	55	69	25%	14
15	Gordon Park	Brisbane	$600,000	1%	16	30	88%	14
16	Ooralea	Mackay	$480,000	7%	20	33	65%	13
17	Sun Valley	Gladstone	$374,500	5%	12	24	100%	12
18	Wynnum	Brisbane	$500,000	-9%	100	111	11%	11
19	Clear Island Waters	Gold Coast	$857,500	11%	27	38	41%	11
20	Blacks Beach	Mackay	$480,000	2%	18	29	61%	11

*Queensland’s strongest softenings* in house sales activity**
			Median price		Sales activity
Rank	Suburb	Region	June 2011 half-year	Annual growth	June 2010 half-year	June 2011 half-year	Annual change	Volume change
1	The Gap	Brisbane	$570,000	0%	133	57	-57%	-76
2	Buderim	Maroochy	$486,700	-12%	242	176	-27%	-66
3	Forest Lake	Brisbane	$385,000	-6%	236	171	-28%	-65
4	Springfield Lakes	Ipswich	$377,800	-6%	157	97	-38%	-60
5	Narangba	Caboolture	$414,000	-6%	182	124	-32%	-58
6	Rochedale South	Logan	$409,000	-4%	129	74	-43%	-55
7	Kingaroy	Kingaroy	$277,500	-4%	122	68	-44%	-54
8	Newtown	Toowoomba	$250,000	-4%	108	57	-47%	-51
9	Urraween	Hervey Bay	$330,000	-2%	99	48	-52%	-51
10	Burpengary	Caboolture	$371,500	-11%	122	73	-40%	-49
11	Warner	Pine Rivers	$465,000	-4%	113	64	-43%	-49
12	Elanora	Gold Coast	$497,579	-8%	99	54	-45%	-45
13	Sippy Downs	Maroochy	$415,000	-6%	87	43	-51%	-44
14	Bowen	Bowen	$350,000	-1%	75	31	-59%	-44
15	Upper Coomera	Gold Coast	$400,000	-7%	166	124	-25%	-42
16	Redbank Plains	Ipswich	$300,000	-4%	105	63	-40%	-42
17	Eatons Hill	Pine Rivers	$530,000	-5%	98	56	-43%	-42
18	Atherton	Atherton	$335,000	-5%	67	25	-63%	-42
19	Douglas	Townsville	$385,000	-11%	74	33	-55%	-42
20	Boondall	Brisbane	$401,000	-6%	78	38	-51%	-40