The question I get asked everywhere I go is ‘How’s the Market?’ My normal answer is steady, this being the case most of the time and fits for both buyers and sellers who ask.  But what is the market really like?  I hear people say, ‘It’s a cooler market’ or, it has ‘Slowed down’. Others say, ‘There is a correction underway’ or its ‘Crashing’.  I like to think of it as a snow-capped peak.  Let me explain. 

The two-year once in a generation boom may be over but the Gold Coast will likely be insulated from the broad price drops currently being experienced across the country. We have an enviable lifestyle, and our market had a real affordability advantage, especially for interstate migrants coming out of markets like Sydney and Melbourne, who could cash out and buy into the Gold Coast. Let us be honest, we all knew it needed to catch up, that it has now done. 

The correction has happened. 

Houses that were worth a median price of almost $1.113m in April 2022 have fallen in value to sit at $1.054m, which is about $60,000 less. Having said that, values in the region rose by a whopping 47.7 per cent from pre COVID through to the recent peak in values mid late 2022, with a median gain of about $343,000. 

 Locals will now get a look in. 

Several consecutive interest rate rises later, it appears to be making an impact as buyers show more restraint. In the coming months, the property market will stabilise and we except that life should return to normal for Gold Coasters. The crazy influx of southern buyers has slowed to a halt, and while interstate migration has slowed the local market of Mums and Dads are now starting to consider typical property moves.  Whether its upsizing or downsizing, many locals were caught in a frenzy as many southern buyers were getting in first with big budgets and squeezing out locals.  Now the many locals feel it safe to be able to act on the traditional ‘Sell and Buy in the same market’ scenario. 

 The dominos are set to fall. 

 Local buyers who require a sale are out in droves now and approximately one in every two buyers recorded at Homes4Rent Open Homes, require selling their home first.  We predict that one in three sales in 2023 will be recorded with a ‘Subject to Sale’ clause and these types of sales were not possible in 2022 amid the frenzy of southern buyers.  We currently have several properties under contract ‘Subject to Sale’ and in one case three property sales are contingent on one another.  

 Sellers will still profit 

 While the market has softened, most people who own a property will still find themselves in an extraordinary equity position considering the rise in values over past few years. 

The “Snow Peak’ of the Market may well have been and gone, but we are still up near the peak, only just down the other side which represents selling at values like mid-late 2020.  So, if you have been in your property a while then it is all good news.

 What if you purchased in the peak? 

 Those who have recently purchased will need to manage their finances and have a long-term view.  It is not timing the market but time in the market that wins long term.  Be sure to get the best loan rates possible, strategise how to limit unnecessary spending and stay positive as the market will strengthen and prices will rise at normal rates. 

 Whether considering buying or selling, the Gold Coast market should settle and return to a healthy norm.  The catch up that we all knew would happen has happened.  So, when asked next “How’s that market?”  I’m not sure whether I’ll go with ‘It was the catch up we needed to have” or ‘Returning to a healthy norm’

Linda 