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Buyer appetite for prestige property in Queensland is on the rise with $1 million-plus sales increasing, according to new research from a franchise group.
According to Place Estate Agents research, transactions in the $1 million-plus sector in 2013 were up by nearly 20 per cent from the year before.
Breaking the sales down into regions Brisbane recorded the biggest jump in $1 million-plus sales, with volumes rising by 23 per cent between 2012 and 2013.
Meanwhile, sales volumes in this price bracket increased by 15 per cent on the Gold Coast and six per cent on the Sunshine Coast.
Place Advisory director Lachlan Walker said looking back over the past decade, prestige sales had been declining since 2010.
“But with the way the figures are tracking and the state of the market at the moment, we would expect the sales volumes in this price bracket over 2013 to be exceeded in 2014,” he said.
“The south east Queensland market has been improving since the latter half of last year, and while typically the top end is the last to recover, we are now seeing this occur with the rise in sales volumes.
“The fact that people are more confident spending larger amounts of money on property is a very positive sign for the market overall; the top end recovery confirms that Queensland has well and truly passed the bottom of the cycle and is strengthening.”
As well as a greater number of prestige properties selling, CEO Damian Hackett said they’re being sold for higher prices.
“While the improvement in Brisbane’s top end has particularly been noticeable from a volumes perspective, there has also been a slight increase in prices, and this is set to continue as the year progresses and momentum in the market only solidifies, with confidence rebounding,” he said.
“Conditions are ripe for buyers to be getting back into the market at the moment due to affordability, with interest rates low and limited price growth over the past few years, and this applies to all ends of the market, including the top end.”
