Queensland property market: Where to now?

When it comes to the property market, it's said knowledge is power. And the more knowledge you have, the better equipped you are when it comes to sales leads. Best of all is that with so much data available en masse, as members of the REIQ everything you need is right at your fingertips. But the real challenge isn't necessarily finding the information; it's working out how to bring all the relevant data together to better position yourself to be a source of market-leading knowledge and insights.

Some insightful data that was recently released via PRD Real Estate's latest Australian Economic and Property Report 2020, shows that median house prices have continued to grow in capital city, metropolitan and regional markets in the 12 months to the first half of 2020. In fact, PRD Real Estate Chief Economist, Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo, believes the market has shown great resilience despite everything that was thrown at it in the past 12 months. Here at the REIQ, we agree.

"While COVID-19 hit us swiftly this year and threw the economy and property markets into turmoil, things settled down within the property market fairly quickly," Dr Mardiasmo said.

PRD Real Estate Managing Director Todd Hadley further added that the market hadn't returned to normal conditions just yet, but the report, Balancing on a Tightrope, Where to Now?, showed that Government stimulus had quickly helped prop up the property market and balance out some of the ill effects of the shutdown.

The report includes property market data up to and including June 2020 and captures the impact of COVID-19. Looking at a State level, Queensland key findings include:

• On average, median house prices grew for capital city, metropolitan, and regional markets in the 12 months to the first half of 2020. Brisbane performed the best, up by 3.6%. QLD metropolitan areas grew on average by 1.2% and regional QLD held steady.
• QLD metro area settled sales grew by 6.3% in the 12 months to May 2020. In the same timeframe, regional QLD settled sales grew by 8.6%, the highest across all regional areas in Australia.
• Consumer confidence has returned to pre-COVID-19 levels with confidence up by 23.9% in June 2020 after a plummet in April. Business confidence has also dramatically improved.
• QLD experienced one of the largest declines in residential construction in the 12 months to the March quarter of 2020 (-22.4%).
• QLD home loan affordability declined by -2.6% in the 12 months to the March quarter of 2020, sitting at 32.9 index points. This is a higher home loan affordability reading compared with Australia (28.8 index points) and a lower rate of decline compared with Australia (-7.1%). QLD still remains one of the more affordable markets during COVID-19.
• QLD first home buyer activity remains strong, increasing by 20.8% in the 12 months to the March quarter of 2020. The proportion of family income devoted to meeting average loan repayments only increased by 2.7% in QLD, lower than the Australian average of 7.4%.
• The Time to Buy a Dwelling Index across Australia is showing a cautious market, with many individual state-level indices reading just under 100 points (positive sentiment level) in June 2020. There is cautious confidence in NSW, VIC, and QLD markets, reading at 97.8, 99.9, and 98.2 index points respectively.
• Brisbane recorded the highest change in median two-bedroom unit rental prices, up by 6.6% in the 12 months to the March quarter of 2020.

To view PRD Real Estate's latest Australian Economic and Property Report 2020, simply click here.