With a solid number of good quality listings, and strong buyer demand, the Noosa real estate market is heading for a bull market, says Adrian Reed of Dowling & Neylan Real Estate Noosaville.
The Noosa real estate market is probably one of the busiest in the country at this time of year.
Adrian Reed, agent with Dowling & Neylan Real Estate Noosaville, told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS, there is always a spike in activity over any holiday period in Noosa, but "the real activity is in January."
Reed said that in December, people arrive and take a look around. But "people have a focus on family, and holidays, and buying in January," he said.
Agents campaign strongly over Christmas, and that stimulates demand onto the market in January, he said.
Last weekend was one of the busiest auction weekends of the year in the beachfront holiday town.
Tom Offermann, of Tom Offermann Real Estate, told SCHWARTZWILLIAMS, their office had 11 auction on the weekend and eight properties were sold, with prices ranging from $461,000 to more than $5 million.
Offermann said one buyer bought a property without seeing it. "The quality of the visual marketing material these days means it's not as surprising as you might think," he said.
"It's a very positive market," said Offermann. "There are sufficient listings for buyers to choose from," he said, and "on average there are four bidders per auction."
Auctioneer Gordon McDonald, director of The Auction Group, said his business of five auctioneers auctioned 24 properties on the weekend and had 77 registered bidders. An average of 3.2 registered bidders per auction is significantly better than average, he said.
McDonald said they achieved a clearance rate of 77 per cent over the weekend, with auctions held on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The state average is only 54 per cent, he said.
"We're very happy with the level of demand and the quality of the stock," he said.
"We're seeing stable, sustainable growth," said McDonald. "It's not the growth of Sydney or Melbourne. But our market's as good as it's been since before the GFC," he said.
Reed said infrastructure spending in the region will also help stimulate demand for Noosa property. While Noosa is a relatively closed market that has limited potential for development because it is surrounded by National Parks, if the region grows, it follows that demand for scarce Noosa real estate will also grow.
The new international airport, Sunshine Plaza, a new light rail, and the redevelopment of the Maroochydore city centre were good for the whole region, said Reed.
"I'm expecting a continued influx of buyers," he said.
"I'm forecasting a bull market for the remainder of the year and into 2019."
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32-hectare Noosa beachfront estate achieves record price of more than $10m