According to the REIQ, the December quarter saw house prices in the Brisbane Local Government (LGA) Area hit a median price of $632,000, a new record for the LGA, after rising by 1.6%.
That increase makes it 14 straight quarters where the median house price in the LGA has increased and means it is 6.1% higher than during the December 2014 quarter and 14.2% higher than at the same time in2010.
REIQ chief executive officer Antonia Mercorella said Brisbane’s streak of price improvements showed the city is in the midst of a sustainable period of growth.
“Our market has avoided the pitfalls of a boom and bust cycle, performing consistently over the past 14 quarters, which is more than three years of sustained growth,” Mercorella said.
“I know some property owners in Sydney and Melbourne who envy that record,” she said.
The price increase over the quarter also coincided with other increases, with listing rising by 6% over the quarter, while houses are taking 78 days to sell compared to 73 in the December 2014 quarter.
Outside of Brisbane, the quarter produced mixed results across the state.
Despite the December quarter usually being a quiet one, Gladstone and Townsville saw their median house prices increase 3.2% to $359,500 and 2.1% to $350,000 respectively in what Mercorella said was somewhat of a “surprising” result.
On the other side of the coin, median house prices fell by 7.3% on the Fraser Coast and 3.7% in McKay, with Mercorella hoping infrastructure investment can help turn around the latter’s fortunes.
We are watching Mackay very closely and our hope is that the government infrastructure projects will create jobs and lead to more vigour in the local economy,” she said.
“Mackay has a diverse local economy and it is our hope that markets such as sugar and education can help create some revenue for local businesses.”
Across the state the December quarter saw a drop in sales volumes for the apartment sector, however there was still some positive results.
The Gold Coast recorded a median price increase of 2.6% to $374,500, while the Sunshine Coast also saw its median apartment price rise 1%, to $365,000.
Townsville once again surprised all with a 5.1% in its median apartment price to $290,000.
