Cairns Property News - September 2023

Spring selling-season is here! There are traditionally more houses coming to market around now which doesn't necessarily "flood" the market but does change the equilibrium of supply & demand. With more choices for Buyers this creates stiffer competition for the Sellers therefore property prices tend to reduce to attract those discerning Buyers.

Despite regional housing values rising for the past five months, a new analysis of year-on-year performance shows many markets are still reeling from high interest rates and a shift in migration patterns back to pre-COVID levels.
CoreLogic’s quarterly Regional Market Update, shows 18 areas recorded an annual decline in house values over the year to July 2023, however Queensland was a big winner when it came to regional market capital growth. Specifically; Central Queensland (2.7%), neighbouring Mackay–Isaac–Whitsunday (1.2%), Toowoomba (0.7%), and Cairns (0.5%), with Bunbury, WA (3.7%) and New England and North West, NSW (1.6%) rounding out the top seven.

In contrast, the weakest conditions were in Richmond-Tweed (-20.4%) and Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven (-15.0%), and Victoria’s Ballarat (-11.2%) and Geelong (-10.4%) to name a few.
CoreLogic Australia Head of Research, Eliza Owen, said despite regional Australian dwelling values rising for the past five months, property values remain -5.6% below this time last year, and sales volumes are down -21.3%. She said “while the market is starting to recover, value growth is largely being led by capital city markets, reflecting milder housing demand across regional Australia as demographic patterns normalise”.

“Additionally, targeted migration programs also tend to focus on parts of regional Australia as a pathway to permanent residence, so some of the more rural, regional parts of the country may have seen sustained housing demand as international travel restrictions have lifted through 2022,” she said.

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Daniel Sheehan
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