Dear Geoff,
Must be your settings somewhere. Anyway have posted the contents of the page below.
Cheers,
Sunstone.
Law of Supply and Demand 7/01/2003
Noosa district housing has gone through a period of unprecedented growth, but don't expect to see prices falling any time soon.
Since 1981, there have been four specific periods of growth in the Noosa region housing market, which covers Noosa Heads, Noosaville, Tewantin and the coastal strip from Sunshine Beach to Peregian Beach. The first was from mid 1986 to the end of 1988, the second from the beginning of 1991 to the middle of 1994, and a third period of gradual increase in demand from the end of 1996 to the start of 2000.
The fourth and most recent increase in demand, however, has featured a dramatic escalation not unlike the period from 1986 to 1988. In the 18 months between December 2000 and June 2002, demand climbed 85% from 930 houses per year to 1,716. To put this in perspective, at the beginning of the 1980 there were less than 100 houses sold per year.
Experienced observers of real estate know that when the number of house sales begins to climb, there is often no immediate or dramatic effect on prices. Properties which have been on the market for a long time finally sell, and those new to the market often sell in a relatively short time.
But eventually demand starts to exceed available supply, leading to a classic 'sellers market'. Buyers are so keen to buy they pay a higher price to secure their choice of property. This is what Noosa has experienced throughout 2002.
Prices continue to rise
The statistics show that dramatic escalations in demand are often followed by a dramatic decline in demand. Interestingly, such a drop off in demand does not lead to an immediate drop in price levels. In fact, price levels continue to rise for up to 12 months. During this time, the shortage of available
houses on the market still leads to high price levels as low supply drives the price rather than high demand.
The evidence shows that in Noosa real estate, once demand drops to lower levels, prices stabilise rather than drop. Sellers still get their price, but the time on the market lengthens.
So, what does this mean if you are thinking of placing your property on the market? If demand has begun to ease off, the recent increase in prices may soon end. If this is the case, delaying the decision to put your property on the market may gain you little increase in selling price and it
may take longer to achieve your price. A study of price changes of houses in Sydney and Noosa
during the last 20 years reveals two contrasting markets.
Sydney is characterised by the classic boom and bust movement in house prices, where there is a dramatic drop in price levels after a period of very strong price growth. There is some evidence to suggest Sydney may be entering a new period of price correction. Recent media reports indicate auction clearance rates have dropped to below 60% from levels of around 90% earlier this year. Noosa does not follow this cyclical trend. It has never experienced dramatic price fluctuations. Median prices have rarely dropped. When prices have risen, the rise has seldom exceeded 10% in any 12 month period.
Annual price increases in Noosa tend to sit between 1% and 10%. This stability is characteristic of quality real estate markets, and is also evident in certain quality sectors within the broader Sydney market. What is different about Noosa? It is virtually a quality market in its entirety, making it a market where you can invest with confidence.
Higher Unit Prices 7/10/2002
Higher Priced Units Demanded In Sunshine Beach
PRDnationwide recently conducted development research to look at what type of residential development should carried out on a quality development site at Sunshine Beach.
The first thing looked at was the demand for higher priced units and houses.
For Sunshine Beach 30% of unit sales were priced at over $350,000 compared to Noosa region where only 18% of unit sales were in this category.
A similar situation exists with houses where in Sunshine Beach 48% of house sales were over $350,000 and for the Noosa region only 32%.
Clearly there is a significantly stronger buyer base for top of the range units and houses in Sunshine Beach and in fact the very latest figures show that the group of buyers for Sunshine Beach units over $350,000 has increased from 30% to 35%.
To reinforce the strength of buyers for top of the range units in Sunshine Beach these latest figures show 22% of all sales of Sunshine Beach units were over $650,000 and 13% were over $750,000.
The next step was to look at the demographics.
Not surprisingly when we looked at the type of people who prefer to live at Sunshine Beach we found the bulk of Sunshine Beach owners are in the 30-50 age group which is the major and most active buying group.
To back this up we see from the Population Growth By Age graph that the 45-54 age group has shown dramatically greater growth than any other age group over the recent five year period. These are the people with the real money to spend.
Over the same five year period we see from the Change In Dwelling Types graph the dominant type of dwelling constructed were townhouses while the number of units dramatically decreased. This fits with the type of buyer we are dealing with who is more interested in a property they can live in or retire to.
Our Change In Ownership Type graph shows that around 50% of all buyers in the recent five year period did not borrow to buy and another 25% borrowed. What this means is at least half these buyers are high net worth individuals.
Spring Auction Weekend 1/10/2002
We had exceptional response to our recent auction weekend with large numbers attending each auction and many moving from auction to auction through the day. Unit 3, 66 Avocet Parade, Peregian Beach was sold immediately after the auction for $233,000 and the sellers were thrilled with the result. Unit 7 "Sunset Cove", Noosaville sold under the hammer. There were five bidders (two via mobile telephones) and two of these saw the property for the first time on the day of the auction. Unit 16 "Sandy Beach Resort" is currently under negotiation and look like being sold.
20 Seacove Court, Noosa Waters was passed in at $517,000 which was an exceptional offer for an older brick home on a dry block of land. There were around seventy people in attendance at the auction. The fifth property was withdrawn prior to auction as the owners have decided to sell the complex it is a part of in one lot.
Unit Sales Surge 25/09/2002
September has been an exceptionally good property sales month with approximately 50% of all sales being units. The trend we started to see emerging quite a few months ago has got stronger and stronger.
Much of the action has been for cheaper product but we are also seeing good sales of units around the $700,000 mark.