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Andrew Bell’s Market Update: Why Has Queensland’s Migration Doubled?

MARKET WRAP
Issue 6   |   March 16th, 2017  |  Why Has Queensland’s Migration Doubled?

Today I am coming to you from a brand new development here at 30 Brighton Parade, Southport, named Lanikai. It is so special that I thought you might be interested to learn a little bit more about it as I run through this week’s market report, where I will touch on a facet of the Gold Coast property market that most people are not completely aware of.

Lanikai is a boutique building of 43 apartments, with pricing starting at $465,000 for a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom and from $710,000 for a three bedroom. It is positioned in a strategical location, with only parkland separating the building to Main River, and many of the apartments offer fantastic river and ocean views, as well as the Surfers Paradise skyline. There are marble finishes, Miele appliances, and the building is made that much more distinctive by the vertical green wall on the side of the building. I will let you view many of aspects of the building as we move on to my report.

TENANT DEMAND AT AN ALL TIME RECORD

I touched recently on the fact that in January we had two different properties, which were available for rent, and where we had the remarkable situation of 60+ parties booked in to inspect each of those properties at the nominated viewing time. In fact, I will give you some astounding figures. In January and February alone, we had 13229 enquiries on properties we had for rent. That is an all-time record. This enquiry translated into 983 inspections. That is just some insight into the tenant demand at present, which again is at an all-time record. I acknowledge we most probably have the largest Property Management business on the Gold coast and so it is not unexpected that we would attract more tenant enquiry. However, that massive number of potential tenants really gave us an early indication that there was something significant changing in the rental market. Since then we have had many other instances with huge volumes of tenants looking for a very limited amount of rental properties.

Vacancy factors are down under 1% and this is the lowest focus factor we have recorded in 20+ years.

QUEENSLAND INTERSTATE MIGRATION SURGES

Our own internal research started to paint a picture. What we learnt was that these prospective tenants were not long term Gold Coaster’s but were largely newly arrived interstaters. Digging deeper it was two groups of people. First, and largely, people who were attracted to great new job opportunities. Particularly in the building trade, with all the development work that is now happening, and both at a white collar and a blue collar level. The second group was an increasing numbers of mature aged Australians, escaping the congestions and the incredibly expensive Sydney and Melbourne, and turning to the Gold Coast which they see is on the rise once again.

Some official figures are now starting to surface and of course they are not reflecting 2017, but numbers put together in 2016. It shows that Queensland recorded net interstate migration, which is arrivals over departures, of around 11,500. This was only second to Victoria at just over 16,500. Proportionally based on our populations, Queensland again is leading in net inbound interstate migration.

In fact, Queensland interstate migration figures have almost doubled over the past year and interstate migration counts for 18% of the states 65,000 population increase during the fiscal 2016 year.

With overseas immigration now at considerably lower levels than figures of some years ago, Queensland and the Gold Coast will rely on this interstate migration as further stimulants to our economies. What we have learnt is that interstate migration is first and foremost linked to job opportunities. That was well and truly demonstrated when we saw a sharp decline in Gold Coast population growth, and largely through interstate migration, during the Global Financial Crisis. Now that our economy is back and firing and plenty of jobs are available, the interstate migration is back on the rise and this is pumping in millions to our economy. In terms of real estate, this is creating a significant increase in demand, both for rental properties and properties to purchase. This is another great aspect of the resurging Gold Coast.

NOW IS THE TIME TO BUY!

I hope you are enjoying the viewing of Lanikai. There is actually only 5 apartments left and one of those is our penthouse, which is some 180 square meters and over two levels with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and 2 carparks, with amazing views of the Broadwater and Surfers Paradise. It is amazing to think that you can buy a brand new penthouse, in this magnificent location, at a price tag of only $1.3 million. This has to be the best value, brand new penthouse on the Gold Coast.

There is a lot happening in our New Projects area and I will give you a bit of an update on that shortly. In the meantime, if you want any additional information into Lanikai, please contact Julian Sutherland, the head of our Project Marketing on 0411 885 522, who would only be too happy to assist you. Do not hesitate to call him, but remember there is only less than a handful of apartments left.

That is it for this week. All the very best, stay safe and share the love.

Kind regards,
Andrew Bell, OAM
Chief Executive Officer
The Ray White Surfers Paradise Group

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