As property prices continue to soar across the country, almost 80 per cent of houses for sale in the Townsville region are listed for less than $600,000 and 90 per cent of units are in the same price bracket.
The latest PropTrack Home Price Index showed the national median house price jumped 4.55 per cent in the 12 months to September to sit at $821,000.
In Sydney, the median house price was $1.365 million while in Melbourne it was $924,000 and in Brisbane it was $865,000.
In Townsville, home prices increased 5.52 per cent in the 12 months to September and 2.16 per cent for the quarter to sit at $400,899, with a median house price of $406,163 and a median unit price of $334,934.
But in good news for budget-conscious buyers, PropTrack’s latest figures found 37.7 per cent of Townsville houses for sale on realestate.com.au were listed for less than $400,000 and 40.3 per cent were sitting in the $400,000 – $600,000 price bracket.
Pickings were slim for buyers with deeper pockets, with 14.5 per cent of houses listed between $600,000 and $800,000 and 4.09 per cent for sale in $800,000 – $1 million bracket.
Just 3.41 per cent of houses were on the market for a seven-figure sum.
In the unit market, 78.05 per cent of properties were listed for sale for less than $400,000, 13.86 per cent were on the market in the $400,000 – $600,000 bracket and 3.88 per cent were listed in the $600,000 – $800,000 bracket.
That left just 4.21 per cent of units with a listing price of more than $800,000.
Damien Keyes, Keyes & Co. Property principal, said there had been strong interest in the lower end of the Townsville property market.
“A lot of transactions are happening in the affordable range,” he said.
“Most well marketed and presented properties are selling around that two to three week mark.”
Mr Keyes said investors, first homebuyers, locals and people relocating to Townsville were all competing in the low end of the market as buyers were priced out of other areas throughout Australia.
“Townsville is an affordable region that offers what I think is a very high level of amenity between health, education, the ability to find a job and a good place to raise a family,” he said.
“Townsville seems to be on everybody’s list as a place to invest.
“As other markets throughout the country are becoming unaffordable and returns are diminishing … Townsville is looking super attractive.
“We are seeing high rental yields here and the vacancy rate is next to nothing.”
Mr Keyes said in the last four months the Townsville market had also seen a resurgence in the $600,000-plus market.
“That speaks to the confidence in the market and the economy in general in Townsville,” he said.
“The high quality properties that come on are disappearing from the market quickly because buyers don’t have a lot of choice.
“There are a lot of punters in that section of the market so when something does become available, it goes quickly.”
TOWNSVILLE’S PROPERTY MARKET BY PRICE BRACKET
HOUSES
37.70%
$400,000-$600,000 - 40.30%
$600,000-$800,000 - 14.50%
$800,000-$1M - 4.09%
$1M-$1.5M - 1.63%
$1.5M-$2M - 0.70%
>$2M - 1.08%
UNITS
78.05%
$400,000-$600,000 - 13.86%
$600,000-$800,000 - 3.88%
$800,000-$1M - 1.55%
$1M-$1.5M - 1.22%
$1.5M-$2M - 0.22%
>$2M - 1.22%
Originally published as Townsville an affordability hot spot
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