A Sunshine Coast suburb has emerged as the most popular location in Queensland for property hunters — and it’s not by the beach.
The leafy and well-heeled suburb of Buderim topped the property searches in Queensland on realestate.com.au over the past year.
In the 12 months to August 2021, there were 45,065 “highly engaged” house buyers searching for property in the area, more than any other location in the state.
Also sitting high on the realestate.com.au search list for Queensland apartments was Maroochydore at number 5, with 21,670 searches.
Ray White Maroochydore director and auctioneer Dan Sowden said Sunshine Coast locals – and Buderim residents in particular – were leading the charge in buying in the area, rather than southerners seeking to escape COVID-19 lockdowns.
Mr Sowden said Buderim had very much been the domain of baby boomers over the past 15 to 20 years.
In that time, young families which were unable to buy into the market on top of the mountain instead secured properties in the surrounding areas.
Now, they were seeking to literally move up in the world, buying further up the slopes, and reigniting the values in Buderim.
Define Property’s principal Ross Cattle said the Buderim searches were likely to have included properties in the surrounding suburbs which include Kuluin, Mons and Kunda Park.
For those willing to live away from the water, Mr Cattle said Buderim normally had more houses for sale across the “massive” area with often much bigger blocks.
“There is a lot of opportunity for people to redevelop properties in Buderim,” Mr Cattle said.
“There are some beautiful big homes that are easy to modernise or renovate and sometimes that’s a better option than building new.”
But for capital growth, Mr Cattle said his top pick was Maroochydore.
He said the beachside heart of the Coast had changed a lot over the last 20 years from being more than 50 per cent rental properties.
Today, houses and apartments have more owner occupiers moving in.
“I think Maroochydore is a fantastic area to buy real estate as it is changing so fast,” he says.
The prices being achieved are solid as owners outbid investors with emotional purchases focused on taking up residence in a central location which is not far from the ocean.
He also noted there was a shift in the suburbs on the other side of the Sunshine Plaza with more owner occupiers moving in and renovating or redeveloping.
