Australia’s Gold Coast Surpasses Sydney in Apartment Prices

The Gold Coast has surpassed Sydney as Australia’s priciest apartment market.

The median unit price in the coastal Aussie city has risen to AU$956,000 ($626,648), outdoing the Sydney median of AU$927,000 ($607,629), RealEstate.com.au reported.

“Gold Coast house and unit prices are climbing again after briefly slowing mid-year, driven by population growth, easing rates and a persistent shortage of new homes,” Nerida Conisbee, chief economist for Australian real estate company Ray White, said. “Three rate cuts so far this year have provided a meaningful boost to borrowing capacity, and markets are now pricing in a possible fourth in November.”

The median price jump comes after a streak of large apartment sales, including billionaire developer Harry Triguboff offloading his penthouse in Gold Coast’s Main Beach for AU$11 million ($7.1 million) and an apartment in the Q1 Tower for AU$11.5 million ($7.5 million).

Main Beach’s median unit price is now more than AU$1.7 million ($1.1 million), almost double what it was a decade ago. The areas of Burleigh Heads, Palm Beach and Currumbin-Tugun have seen similar surges to AU$760,000 ($498,407), AU$740,000 ($484,944) and AU$740,000 ($484,944) respectively; in Currumbin-Tugun, that marks a 134 percent increase over the past decade. Meanwhile, suburbs like Miami, Coolangatta, Mermaid Waters and Paradise Point have each added between $670,000 ($439,040) and $700,000 ($458,700) since 2015.

Those increases signal “broad strength across the city’s prime coastal corridor,” Conisbee said. But high construction costs and planning obstacles still present significant hurdles to delivering new apartments for less than AU$750,000 ($491,542).

“Even with further rate relief, it is unlikely that supply will accelerate quickly enough to ease pressure on prices in the short term,” Conisbee said.

Across Queensland, investor lending has reached an all-time high, with the Gold Coast at the center of that surge. Investors looking for both income and capital growth have purportedly been attracted to rising rents and low vacancy rates. First-time buyer activity is simultaneously rising thanks to government grants and lower borrowing costs. Smaller vacation apartments are reportedly being converted into permanent homes by many buyers.

“Areas once dominated by short-stay accommodation now have a more permanent residential feel, adding new depth to the market while tightening the supply of holiday rentals,” Conisbee said.

Home values in Australia rose 4.8 percent from last September to this September, with the Gold Coast leading the way.

— Chris Malone Méndez