Twice the price: Top 20 Gold Coast suburbs where prices doubled fastest

HOME values in sought-after suburbs across the Gold Coast have doubled in as little as four years, with strong demand and limited stock in the top-performing markets acting as a buffer to price falls on the back of rising interest rates since last year.

Exclusive PropTrack data showed house prices accelerated about twice as fast as unit values as buyers prioritised lifestyle and space, with beachside and Hinterland markets leading the gains.

Tallebudgera Valley was the top-performing local house market, with prices in the southern acreage suburb up 100 per cent in 50 months to March this year.

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8 Yarra Ct, Tallebudgera Valley goes under the hammer on July 1.

A typical house in the exclusive area known for its sprawling lots and rainforest setting just a short drive from Burleigh Beach now costs $2.02m.

House prices doubled in 6 years in each of the other top suburbs on the list: Burleigh Waters (median $1.5m), Mount Nathan ($1.55m), Palm Beach ($1.5m), Worongary ($1.275m), Miami ($1.38m), Bilinga ($1.3m), Mermaid Waters ($1.65m), and Wongawallan ($1.39m).

For units, Palm Beach was top-ranked, with prices there up 102 per cent over 7 years, to a median of $840,000.

The once-sleepy southern stretch is now synonymous with cranes in the sky as original shacks and brown-brick unit blocks have made way for luxury new apartment developments with buy-ins of many times more than the suburb median.

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Artist renders of Kloud at Palm Beach by Graya

Neighbouring Tugun (median $770,000) was close behind, while unit prices doubled in 8 years in Miami (median $810,000), Highland Park ($520,000) and Mudgeeraba ($672,500).

Main Beach and Parkwood hit the growth milestone in 9 years, while in Upper Coomera, Coomera and Ashmore units are now twice the price they were 10 years ago.

PropTrack director of economic research Cameron Kusher said nationally, prices had increased by about 32 per cent since the beginning of the pandemic, but some areas had notched up significantly greater gains including in the desirable southeast Queensland corner.

Buyers taking advantage of cheap finance through the pandemic kicked off swift price growth in regional markets before the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) moved to reign in inflation mid-2022.

Mr Kusher said the top-performing areas represented a mix of established and exclusive enclaves, as well as emerging suburbs and hubs of new development.

“They are more lifestyle markets away from the water and areas where new housing has been built which is generally better quality than existing stock, thus lifting median prices,” Mr Kusher said.

“The areas on the coastline that have doubled relatively quicker are typically further south and less high-profile areas.

“For units, it has generally been cheaper areas with a mix between coastal and non-coastal suburbs that have seen prices double.”

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This former prize home in Tallebudgera Valley sold at auction for $4.35m.

McGrath Palm Beach partner Josh Willatt said a new era of luxury builds in the leading house and unit markets of Tallebudgera Valley and Palm Beach had fuelled growth over recent years.

“Tallebudgera has always been a sought-after and popular suburb, however buyers have gained more confidence to invest in an amazing renovation or new build, which has then resulted in a better calibre of property attracting those higher sale prices,” Mr Willatt said.

Prize home charities such as Yourtown and the Mater Foundation have also boosted the profile of the area, snapping up sprawling parcels and upgrading them to dream home-status to be raffled off.

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A double-storey unit in this luxury Palm Beach development sold of market for $6.52m in February.

At least three former prize home estates were among this year’s top sale in Tallebudgera Valley, including one which sold under the hammer for $4.35m this month.

Former Sydney Swans and Adelaide Crows player Kurt Tippett was the underbidder for the spectacular acreage property at 50-56 Gibsonville St, which had been the major prize of the Yourtown charity’s Christmas 2022 draw.

At Palm Beach, a double-storey ‘beach house’ within the 2019-built Pacific building was the suburb’s most expensive unit sale this year, changing hands for $6.525m in February.

“People used to buy in Palm Beach because it was the cheapest coastal town, not because of what is offered, but gentrification has changed that,” Mr Willett said.

The area now hosts a thriving cafe, nightlife and retail hub, attracting young families and professional couples, while older residents are cashing in on eye-watering capital gains to downsize to luxury new digs.

“Palm Beach has so much old money. People who have owned their property for 20 or 30 years want to downsize but not leave the area, and developers have realised the cookie cutter unit stock isn’t popular anymore,” Mr Willatt said.

“Full-floor and half-floor apartments have become such an alluring product. They are predominantly selling to local buyers, and it is bringing an element of luxury and raising the calibre of real estate across the entire suburb.”

Celebrity builder-developers Graya are among those investing in the area, securing oceanfront sites for two new luxury tower projects, Kloud and Ripple.

Article source: Queensland Property Investor