QUEENSLAND
ARE WE HEADING INTO THE GOLDEN DECADE ?
International migration may be negative but very high levels of interstate migration to Queensland has been a feature of COVID . All these new residents , lower infection levels , a strong economy and more people looking to buy second homes have led to particularly positive property market conditions for the state . Provided it can maintain the momentum it has picked up over the past 12 months , Queensland could be heading for a golden decade of property prosperity .
Across south-east Queensland , the Local Government Areas ( LGA ) of Noosa , Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast have seen the strongest price growth over the past 12 months . All these areas were early beneficiaries of price growth during the pandemic . This is also showing up at a suburb level where the biggest increases in pricing are dominated by suburbs on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast .
Brisbane ’ s price growth picked up a bit later in 2020 but has been strong since then . An interesting difference between Brisbane ’ s price growth and other capital cities , particularly Melbourne and Sydney is that the strongest price growth suburbs are inner urban . An outer suburban shift has been less apparent in Brisbane during the pandemic .
Outside of south-east Queensland , price growth is more mixed although at a LGA level no area is seeing price declines . The LGA of Maranoa ( centred around the town of Roma ) has seen the most growth , driven by strong agricultural conditions . At the other end of the scale , Douglas , the area north of Cairns and including the town of Port Douglas , has seen no change in pricing . The reliance of tourism , particularly foreign tourists , has led to less favourable economic conditions for this region .
Of particular note for Brisbane are some decent rental growth conditions . It isn ’ t quite as red hot as mining dependent cities such as Perth and Darwin , or Canberra ’ s government employment charged property market , but it ’ s still strong and being driven by the high levels of interstate migration .
20