Prodap Report: Gold Coast Property Boom By 2012

Coast property market ‘to boom by 2012’

SHRINKING land stocks and continued population growth could be setting the Gold Coast up for another property boom towards the end of 2012.

Property researcher Bill Morris has revealed in the latest Prodap report that the Coast has only a nine-month supply of land, even though demand for housing has fallen to a 15-year low.

The report revealed there were just 1211 housing lots available on the Coast, while sales were running at 1951 for the year to the end of September.

This is the first time that land sales had slumped below 2000 since Prodap began keeping records in 1995, Mr Morris said.

But he said the slump in sales had more to do with bank lending constraints.

“(This) is causing pent-up demand, the normal pre-cursor to a property boom.”

Forward supply figures of 3275 lots and homes were equally dire, with Mr Morris highlighting the Coast still attracted 15,000 new residents a year.

“We don’t need an increase in demand to start getting price rises,” he said. “When a region is not supplying the underlying housing needs of its population growth, the inevitable outcome is a high point in the property cycle and I predict that this will occur before the end of 2012.

“It won’t be a boom like we saw in 2003-04 but still we will see demand and prices rising to a peak.”

But Mr Morris warns that house prices on the Coast would continue to fall ahead of the expected boom.

Original Article on GoldCoast.com.au by Nick Nichols, business editor | November 11th, 2010

About the Author

Glenn Batten - Glenn Batten is the Principal Licensee of First National Real Estate Upper Coomera which provides residential property sales and property management services throughout the Northern Growth Corridor suburbs of Upper Coomera, Coomera, Pimpama, Willow Vale, Ormeau and Oxenford.