Queensland's prestige property market is heating up, with million-dollar plus homes being the strongest performers in the December quarter, new data from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland shows. Sales volumes in this price bracket were up 17 per cent across the state, with around 2,600 properties across 320 suburbs changing hands for more than $1 million in 2014.

In Townsville, 10 properties sold for upwards of $1 million, while the highest individual sale - a house selling for $7.125 million - was in Hamilton in Brisbane.

Queensland recorded $51 billion worth of residential real estate transactions in 2014, the highest level since 2010. REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella said sales volumes also hit a five year high in 2014, with approximately 114,000 transactions recorded throughout the state.

“The value of transactions in Queensland in 2014 was below the peak of $73 billion recorded in 2007, but there’s a very encouraging upward trend which is great news for homeowners,” said Mercorella. “2003 still holds the record for the most number of transactions in a calendar year, however sales volumes are clearly heading in the right direction.
And in another encouraging sign, there’s been a significant rise in the number of suburbs where every vendor made a profit on sale. In 2014, there were 49 Queensland suburbs where every property sold at a profit, up from just 22 suburbs in 2013.”

Brisbane suburbs dominated the list of those areas making 100 per cent profit on sales. Tara on the Western Darling Downs recorded the biggest increase in profit-making sales anywhere in the state, with a rise of 36 per cent. On the Gold Coast, 100 per cent of vendors in Mermaid Beach made a profit on sale in 2014.