The real estate market in South East Queensland continues to strengthen with many SEQ markets experiencing higher levels of buyer enquiry and steady or improving prices. If the first quarter of 2015 was to be a true litmus test on the performance of the SEQ property market moving forward then I would say it passed with flying colours. Although many markets performed as expected, there were some surprising results particularly in the luxury sector.

As was the trend towards the back end of 2014, buyer enquiry for homes under $1M, not only in Brisbane but on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, was strong and this has continued through Q1 in 2015. The key indicators that this area of the market will continue its momentum for the remainder of the year is the increase in both local and out of area investors, families upgrading and first home buyers taking advantage of historically low interest rates.

One trend that has emerged this year is the return of small to medium sized developers who are brimming with confidence after a steady period of strong growth and results across SEQ in 2014 and the start of 2015. Potential development sites ranging from $1M-$3M are at times seeing multiple parties enter into negotiations and when you combine this with the limited supply of prime sites available, it is hard to see this trend not continuing at least for the short-medium term.

The real surprise so far in 2015 has been the resurgence of the luxury market. The Sunshine Coast has seen a very encouraging bounce back at the top end with an array of strong results reported across areas from Noosa Heads and Sunshine Beach all the way down the coast to Caloundra. The same can be said of the Gold Coast, which has had some very encouraging results not only for beachfront and main river properties but for luxury apartments in particular “Aurora” The Soul Penthouse, Surfers Paradise, which sold under the hammer at auction for $1M over reserve, equalling the all-time record price for a Surfers Paradise apartment held by the Jade Penthouse at $7M. The Brisbane market has been very strong under $1M however the $2M plus range is now strengthening. 

As a result we expect to see some landmark Brisbane sales throughout the second quarter of 2015.