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Coast property set for take off as West’s wild ride ends.
“Perth’s property prices may be landing but we are just taking off – again”.

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Queensland is leading the nation with house prices increasing 3% in the December quarter.

PRD research director Tim Lawless said that it is the largest quarterly increase since the 2003 boom. He said that the Gold Coasts median house prices certainly beat Brisbane. For the June quarter 2006 the Gold Coasts median price of $411,750 was second only to Sydney.

With 2007 dubbed “the year of the bypass” (Tugan bypass) demographer Bernard Salt was quoted as saying the Coastlink bypass would establish a rapid increase in population and property prices. (I have a unit at Tugan and am eagerly waiting for the completion of the bypass and resultant effect on prices to have it revalued).

Source: The Courier Mail

SOUTHERN Cross University is set to establish the country’s first cross-border campus, with plans to build an initial $20 million campus next to the Gold Coast Airport.After an unsuccessful bid to gain approval for expansion of its overflowing Tweed Heads campus, the university’s vice- chancellor, Professor Paul Clark, has been given the green light to pursue the cross-border project.

“This is an exciting prospect for the university,” he said. “The buildings are only a starting point. The site location is ideal for growth and expansion down the track and the transport infrastructure will be a major attraction for students with the Tugun bypass and rail link.”

The southern Gold Coast and Tweed are expected to cash in on the economic bonanza with the campus uniquely straddling the NSW and Queensland border, making it the first of its kind in Australia.

More than 14,000 students attend Southern Cross University campuses across northern NSW and many of them travel from the Gold Coast to study in niche courses, with the university boasting one of the best marine science centres in Australia.

Source: Gold Coast Bulletin

TROOP numbers in Townsville will swell by more than 1500 as part of a multibillion-dollar strengthening of defence bases in northern Australia. The National Security Council last week approved $206 million to fast-track refurbishment of Lavarack Barracks ahead of the relocation of Sydney’s 3rd Battalion to the city in 2010.

Townsville’s credentials as the nation’s premier defence base also will be bolstered by the deployment of a squadron of MRH-90 helicopters – the most advanced troop-carrying helicopter in the world. The new helicopters, to be built in Brisbane, will replace the existing Black Hawk helicopter fleet.

Up to 1000 new homes will be needed in Townsville to accommodate the defence force’s consolidation in north Queensland.

Have you seen our listing at Townsville?

THE Perth house price boom has ended and Sydney has fallen deeper into the red as the property downturn continues to bite, with analysts predicting months more pain for homeowners.

In Sydney, median house prices fell 1 per cent in the quarter – reversing slight gains made earlier in the year – as the impact of last year’s three rate rises was digested by the nation’s weakest property market.

“We expect Brisbane will lead the housing recovery over the next two years,” BIS Shrapnel senior analyst Jason Anderson said yesterday. “Brisbane is where rental growth has been strongest, it’s where pressures are greatest and I think that’s showing up in this price growth.“

Mr Anderson said Perth prices were likely to fall 1 per cent this year because that market had “overshot” during the boom.

Macquarie Bank head of property Rod Cornish said interest rates were expected to remain on hold this year as inflation pressures eased. And he predicted the Reserve Bank would probably cut rates early next year in an attempt to stimulate building activity in the floundering NSW and Victorian markets.

Source: The Australian

SYDNEY is in the grip of a second property crisis with the supply of new houses falling to levels not seen since 1975 and research forecasting rents to rise by as much as 40 per cent within two years.The results of a study, by BIS Shrapnel, has shown construction of new homes in Sydney has hit an historical low, rivalled only by the slump of the mid 70s.

Coupled with housing affordability, low to middle income earners are being warned that prices are likely to spike again within four years with “steep price increases”.

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ANZ senior economist Ange Montalti said the rate of housing approvals in December would translate to the completion of 137,700 homes if continued over a year. However, migration and the formation of new households means there is underlying demand for about 168,000 new homes a year.

“Housing market tightness is expected to intensify over 2007 as the supply of homes continues to run well below demand,” Mr Montalti said. He said this would generate higher house prices and rental levels, while vacancy rates would remain very low.

Source: The Australian

The latest Queensland state accounts show continued baseline strength with a revised economic growth increasing to 4.4% for 2005/06. In comparison, national rate of growth is sitting at 1.4%. Deputy Premier and Treasurer Anna Bligh says faster growth in the business sector, housing investment and consumer spending have all contributed to Queensland’s stronger economic growth. “Business investment in Queensland surged by 20.5% over the year to September 2006,” she says. “That compares with business investment growth of 0.4% in the rest of the country. That means that Queensland’s rate of business investment is 50 times that of the rest of Australia.”

Over the year to December 2006 trend employment increased by a total of 97,100 people with 92,100 of those being full-time jobs. “Despite containing less than 20% of the nation’s population, Queensland accounted for more than one-third of national employment growth in 2006 and over 43% of full-time jobs growth,” Bligh told Parliament this week.

Queensland’s trend unemployment rate reached a generational low of 4.1% in December 2006, substantially lower than the 4.7% recorded in the rest of Australia.

Source: QBR

SUN, surf and cheap beer – it is no wonder 209 people migrate to Queensland each day.

According to new figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Brisbane residents pay less for the average trolley of grocery staples than shoppers in any other capital city across the country.

Source: The Courier Mail

SOUTHEAST Queensland is facing a critical land shortage that will have a ‘calamitous’ effect on housing affordability, a leading industry body predicts.

The latest land supply report released by the Property Council of Australia said that within 20 years the region would face a ‘disastrous’ land shortfall.

Residential Development Council executive director Ross Elliott said the cost of housing would continue to increase as the land shortages became worse in the next two decades. “Currently, the shortage is just under 13,000 lots. In 20 years that will be 185,076 or almost 15 times worse,” said Mr Elliott.

“Imagine how that will affect housing affordability if we don’t make changes now.

The REIQ president, Peter McGrath, said the population had ‘exploded’ in the southeast corner and the market had been unable to keep up. “The South East Queensland Regional Plan underestimated the rate of release,” he said. “The last six years have been incredible. We have seen massive growth.

The Courier Mail newspaper ran a similar story about the report and said “The report, the first of its kind in Australia to look into the future of land supply, found state and local governments would need to revise current policies and release additional land or face an “unprecedented disaster” in housing affordability.” As investors perhaps “unprecedented disaster” should read “unprecedented opportunity”?

Source: GC Weekend Bulletin

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