It hasn’t just taken the COVID-19 pandemic to drive investors to the Sunshine Coast, it’s been an ongoing trend for buyers to seek out opportunities to move their money into the burgeoning regional market.
Since before last year, Coast Property Buyers director Simon Thomas says the word has been out about the Coast’s infrastructure changes, population growth and investment opportunities.
During the early months of the pandemic property investment activity temporarily came to a standstill.
“I had a number of interstate investors that had properties under contract here and they all withdrew,” Mr Thomas says.
But times have changed.
Nationally an ABS July report states, “new housing loan commitments have risen 4.9 per cent in May 2021 (seasonally adjusted) to a new high of $32.6 billion, driven by investor housing loan commitments”.
“COVID has been one of the biggest re-aligners of people’s lives particularly interstaters and expats that want to eventually come back to the Coast,” Mr Thomas says.
“We are seeing a massive influx of interstate people. These people are buying properties now that they are eventually going to move into.”
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He is also seeing both local and interstate investors who see the Coast property market, particularly houses, as a viable investment option when seeking yield and capital growth.
“I have bought investment properties for clients in the last six to 12 months for people, particularly this year, who are in their 70s and all have said to me ‘we won’t go overseas again’,” Mr Thomas says.
They are looking for ways to spend that travel money and/or make their savings work better for them.
Mr Thomas’s hot tip for investors is to look outside of the crowded coastal market and into communities close to major transport corridors. Glass House Mountains, Bli Bli, Burnside, Palmwoods and Nambour — anything on a train line.
He says young couples who can’t afford to buy in Brisbane before they start a family are instead looking to the Coast to rent, particularly in communities where they can hop on a train and go to work.
“There is a great investment corridor anywhere along the train line.”
Mr Thomas believes that while the city markets may flatten, the Coast market is in a strong medium to long-term position to achieve further growth.
With Sydney and Melbourne back in lockdown, he expects a spike in investor enquiries. It might not be immediate, but he expects it will happen very soon.
