mrd

QUEENSLAND’S love affair with poker machines is set to wane but an unrelenting population boom will continue to boost State Government coffers.

Interstate and overseas migration is tipped to continue unabated this financial year, delivering a tax bonanza through increased stamp duties, payroll and land taxes and fuelling hopes for tax cuts.

Acting Premier Anna Bligh yesterday released the mid-year review of the Budget, which revealed Queensland was growing at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the nation. Queensland’s growth is now expected to hit 4.75 per cent, nearly double the national rate of 2.5 per cent.

Source: Courier Mail

QUEENSLAND may soon be forced to put up the “no vacancy” sign for rental properties as unprecedented demand dries up the once plentiful market. The lack of available rentals has fuelled big increases, in some cases caused by landlords and agents conducting auctions between desperate customers.

Some tenants have resorted to offering to pay 12 months rent up front just to secure a home.

Households are also swelling with families sharing to ease the burden of rent, which went up 15 per cent in southeast Queensland last year.

The latest statistics show Queensland’s rental vacancies at a record low, plummeting to below 1 per cent in some areas compared with 10 per cent in 2000.In Brisbane, soaring demand is set to worsen this month as more than 35,000 international students arrive in the state to start university.

Source: Sunday Mail Newspaper

The 2007 PRDnationwide report has now been released and Mr Lawless said two trends – the outer-lying areas close to working nodes and industrial precincts, and suburbs with unique aspects including acreage blocks, river frontage and infrastructure plans – would continue to push higher-than-average growth.

“People working in these areas would like to live close by and are being locked out of the housing market due to low levels of affordability.
“We are also seeing a lot of investors in these outer working areas because the rental yields are typically very high, due to a low buy-in price and high rental rate.”

“We have found that the growth appears to be returning to the marketplace relative to 2004-05, with the number of suburbs recording at least 10 per cent growth over the year almost double from last year’s low of just 18 suburbs to 33 suburbs.”

“Two thousand and seven will be similar to the second half of 2006, with now being a good time for buyers to position themselves strategically in the marketplace for the higher levels of growth likely to return at the end of 2007 and into 2008.”

Source: Courier Mail Newspaper

A 1960′s style housing recovery is expected in 2007 and beyond, due to changing demographics,changes to superannuation and most importantly the tight rental market, according to independant property analyst Michael Matusik. “Rents are rising, the rate of growth is escalating and it is no surprise that investors (long term holders and not speculators) are back in the market.”

Source: GC Business News

SOUTHEAST Queensland’s growing pains are set to pile even more pressure on both the residential and commercial property markets.
New home buyers and renters will continue to bear the pain as the influx of 1200 new residents a week puts immense strain on the construction sector.

“We are not building enough houses to house the growth in the population. We are getting pressure in the rental market, vacancy rates are very low and rents are going up at twice the rate of inflation,” Housing Industry Association Queensland executive director Warwick Temby said.

“These are early signs that there’s pressure in the market for either more price growth, or more construction, or a bit of both.”

Source: Courier Mail Newspaper

INFRASTRUCTURE has been the buzz word on policy makers’ lips for the past couple of years.

Ministers and bureaucrats alike talk up the need for more dams, roads, hospitals, schools and everything else required to accommodate Queensland’s exploding population.

And it’s this seemingly recent revelation to plan for the future that is the core of the conundrum in which Queensland now finds itself. To its credit, the Beattie Government has addressed the problem. Its unveiling in early 2005 of a grand 20-year, $66 billion infrastructure dream was well received.

See maps of government infrastructure plans (Feb 2007) for SE Qld and Northern Queensland.

Source: Courier Mail Newspaper

QUEENSLAND has become a favourite for migrants, with new arrivals increasing by more than a third in four years.

More than 24,800 migrants chose Queensland as home last financial year, up from 16,100 in 2002-03.

Immigration Minister Amanda Vanstone said yesterday: “Australians have always known what a wonderful place Queensland is to live and visit, but in the past five years the state has also become an increasingly popular destination for migrants.

Source: Courier Mail Newspaper

The article comments that RTA figures show that more people are renting in Queensland than ever before , especially SE Qld. Bonds held there have grown by more than 21,000 in the past 2 years. RTA figures indicate that people are renting unbits and townhouses rather than houses and living in the more affordable suburbs outside the inner suburbs. They also report government figures that show Queensland population boom will continue for some time and the increasing tennant demand indicates higher rents. The highest increases are in Mckay where rents have increases 45% in 3 years!!

The magazine also comments on the growth in the Northern Gold Coast where Coomera is expected to double its population in the next 5 years. The new 22 hecctare town centre will be developed around the Coomera Railway Station (Dreamworld) ,will cost more than $100mil will be bigger than Southport.

http://www.propertylifestyle.com.au/

GOLD Coast Airport is to have a state-of-the-art $100 million terminal as the centrepiece of a sprawling $1 billion-plus business precinct with high rises, office towers and a train line.

Airport chief executive Paul Donovan unveiled the radical plans yesterday, saying the 460m runway extension under construction now was only the tip of the iceberg for the airport.

“It’s going to be a small city,” he said. “We are going to create a terminal and an airport precinct that has the ‘wow’ factor. Mr Donovan said the runway extension would be a huge money spinner for the airport and the Gold Coast, allowing in fully loaded Boeing 767s and 787s and luring carriers flying direct from the US, South-East Asia, Japan, China and the Middle East.

The bonanza would pay for a new $100 million terminal that is already in the design stages and is ‘just a few years away’, according to Mr Donovan. “In 10 years we should be satisfying the people in our catchment area with direct flights throughout Asia and connecting long-haul flights from there. Effectively you could fly everywhere,” said Mr Donovan

The Courier Mail headlines read “Boomleigh” and comment that the area of Beenleigh is booming as the Gold Coast struggles to squeeze in 600,000 new residents by 2013. A report from PRD highlights the problems of housing the 280 new residents that arrive every week. The paper also gave median house prices for Gold Coast suburbs from 2001 to 2006 and many have shown average annual increases of over 20%.

See median prices after the jump:

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/extras/house_prices/housing.htm