
The CFMG Capital marketing and development team recently attended a Property Market Update webinar hosted by Realestate.com.au. The webinar included key insights from Cameron Kusher, REA’s Executive Manager for Economic Research, about the trends affecting the developer property market in Qld, and the outlook for 2021.
In terms of the property market, Qld is recovering, moderately, but in better condition compared to other states within Australia. Currently, affordability, low interest rates and pent-up demand is driving the market in Qld.
The impact of the HomeBuilder grant appears to be bringing forward future sales which is positive, however, this could result in a trough afterwards if other stimulus measures are not introduced subsequently. As a guide, sales were up 30% in the last week of August this year, compared to the same time last year.
Key insights on the effect of ‘Covid-19’ on the Qld property market include; the impact of the restrictions is resulting in ‘forced savings’ as people can’t travel overseas, or in some cases, their own state at the moment. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is predicting Australia will have 10% unemployment in 12 months and it will take approximately 3 – 5 years to reduce back to 7% as companies and jobs disappear. Another key insight is that people are spending more time in their apartments/older homes so there’s now a growing desire to move into something better/more desirable. This is supported by insights below:
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Vacant land sales up 75% compared to the same time last year
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Qld weekly demand index up 41% (views per listing)
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Rental views per listing are down for Brisbane, but not so for the wider SEQ region. Renters are seeking more ‘space’ as they spend more time in their homes
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Developer page views up 40% on last year
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Land estate page views up 350% on last year
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New enquiry is favouring land estates rather than apartments
According to Cameron, the outlook for 2021 is largely dependent on Covid-19 travel restrictions easing. If this occurs, we could see international migration open up, as Australia is considered an attractive option, providing positive stimulus for the economy.