The Gold Coast Market is Very Sad Indeed

S

stevie_sloth

Of course I already knew this, but we bought our place back in May 2008 for $337,000. It had already been reduced from $357,000.

A place in the unit 2 floors above us (top floor, we're ground), which is partially renovated, went to auction 3 months ago and was passed in at $310,000. They paid $309,000 for it a year before we bought our's.

They then listed it at $369,000. Then it was reduced to $359,000. Then $349,000. It sat at $349,000 for a while.

It sold 2 weeks ago. We were very curious to see what price it got, and found out yesterday. $337,500.

Oh dear. Oh dearie, dearie me.
 
The top end of the market tends to balloon when things are good, so much so that people will pay ANYTHING to get what they want.

The average housing market has low volume right now, so anything that needs to sell, needs to be moved at the price someone is willing to pay.................

Interestingly, while there is a fair bit of stock, there are few sales.

ta
rolf
 
I wouldnt complain..theres more downward pressure to come yet...

keep in mind you purchased pretty much at the top of the market.

look forward to twenty years time...you will be wondering why your were worried...
 
The Gold Coast has always been volatile, so why is anybody surprised? Anybody purchasing there has to expect wild fluctuations in prices. At the moment prices are depressed, which doesn't mean it'll always stay that way.

RK
 
I bought my first property in 1988 and have been watching the property market pretty keenly since then,

One thing i've always noticed is that the Gold Coast market is like the canary in the mine for Aussie property prices overall.

It always leads other markets down as discretionary spending decreases in slumps and up in good times as discretionary spending increases.

Its just that sort of place. With the economy largely reliant on tourism.
 
No golden shine right now

Some more info from today's datasphere:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/new.../story-fn6njxlr-1225964438789?from=public_rss

It isn't only the top end that is suffering. Traditional mum and dad suburbs are also hurting. Confidence there (even from an outsider's perspective) is very low. :(

I have been there three times in as many months and the sentiment has changed to the downside (from my mere observations) on each subsequent visit in that time period.

Interesting concept Evan of the "canary in the coalmine". I haven't followed that market from the eighties as you have, so can't comment, however if you are correct, then the canary is suffocating. :cool:

Whilst the Gold Coast may be fools gold right now :rolleyes: this may lead to greater opportunities in the next year or so.
 
evand said:
One thing i've always noticed is that the Gold Coast market is like the canary in the mine for Aussie property prices overall.
Click to expand...


ahhhhhhhh but the RBA has modern technology, they now have methane and CO dets, but some of us think the calibration is quite bad :)

ta
rolf
 
csc2 said:
I wouldnt complain..theres more downward pressure to come yet...

keep in mind you purchased pretty much at the top of the market.

look forward to twenty years time...you will be wondering why your were worried...
Click to expand...

I think we bought JUST as the market was beginning to slow. If we'd paid $357,000 for our place (before it was reduced), then we'd have bought our particular property at its top price on that market. VERY glad we didn't.

I AM worried however, because we simply have absolutely NO intention of living here for the next 20 YEARS! I know we'd make money in that time. Of course! Even 10 years. 5 probably. But we don't want to be here. We're hideously unhappy and want OUT ASAP, but can't because of the market.

We can't afford to buy another property and rent this one out. So we're stuck. And it sucks! Hence this thread. lol
 
stevie_sloth said:
I think we bought JUST as the market was beginning to slow. If we'd paid $357,000 for our place (before it was reduced), then we'd have bought our particular property at its top price on that market. VERY glad we didn't.

I AM worried however, because we simply have absolutely NO intention of living here for the next 20 YEARS! I know we'd make money in that time. Of course! Even 10 years. 5 probably. But we don't want to be here. We're hideously unhappy and want OUT ASAP, but can't because of the market.

We can't afford to buy another property and rent this one out. So we're stuck. And it sucks! Hence this thread. lol
Click to expand...

Feel for your situation.
I'd be interested to know what was the reason you bought?
Was it a lack of understanding how the Gold Coast market can be, or something else?
 
If you are selling and buying in a very short space of time then the market does not matter so much.

Yes, you will "do dough" on your apartment if you sell, but should be able to negotiate hard when purchasing your next property.
Marg
 
Why did we buy? We had to.

Well, we obviously WANTED to buy, as we'd rented for 5 years and our rent was going up by $30 a week every single 6 month lease renewal (landlord refused to do anything to improve the apartment, refused to lower the rent increases or give us a 12 month lease instead of 6 months, and kept trying to sell the apartment all the time, asking too much and having open inspections every weekend, which was really inconvenient for us, as tenants), and we also wanted to OWN something instead of throwing away our money to the landlord.

We worked out we'd be paying less in loan repayments than we were in rent (the landlord, after we moved out, raised the rent by $50 a week for the next tenants, and was going to do the same thing to us if we'd stayed), we wanted to finally have pets, etc, etc. The normal reasons to buy.

We wanted to buy in the same area we rented, but couldn't afford it so had to move elsewhere. We didn't realise at the time the public transport would be so bad, and I also didn't realise I'd be so unhappy here. We had to downsize from a 3 bedroom to a 2 bedroom, so we're very squashed as well. But mainly it's just the feeling isn't right. We don't love where we live...I didn't realise at the time (and I won't make the same mistake again) that the things I loved about our old area and place, I NEED them to be happy in a property.

We didn't intend to want to sell and move on so soon. We knew holding onto property's the best way to make money, but...as I said, we didn't know we'd feel this way. :(
 
Tighten your belt and ride it out. Sounds like you are better off then paying the rent increases and in a few years time you will be ahead.
 
stevie_sloth said:
I think we bought JUST as the market was beginning to slow. If we'd paid $357,000 for our place (before it was reduced), then we'd have bought our particular property at its top price on that market. VERY glad we didn't.

I AM worried however, because we simply have absolutely NO intention of living here for the next 20 YEARS! I know we'd make money in that time. Of course! Even 10 years. 5 probably. But we don't want to be here. We're hideously unhappy and want OUT ASAP, but can't because of the market.

We can't afford to buy another property and rent this one out. So we're stuck. And it sucks! Hence this thread. lol
Click to expand...

Why not use this home as collateral to purchase another down the track??

Tell you now this is a positive way to enhance your investing..

BUT: You need to save like crap to get some cash on hand..

Using equity in your home is the way to move forward.

For sure you may wish to move later and that is normal for many of us but no need to sell...use the place you have now as a rental and purchase another home for yourself.

If the home is sound and reasonabably maintenance free and you find the right tenant then start saving for the next 3/5 years....get a solid deposit and purchase another home..even less if you knuckle down.

In theory its easy and in practice if you work hard it is also easy...

We did that when we started out years ago............mind you i have flicked everything now but thats just me...some punters accumulate properties and never sell until they retire and then just flick them one by one if required...

My Uncle had 20 properties when he retired in 1995, he now has 15...so he has enough to keep him going until he passes on.....i like his style, he worked hard, accumulated wealth in bricks and mortal...now he wants for nothing.....

i cant do that because i get bored with holding, i like to offload when the market is running hot, renovate and flick again...each to their own....hes probably in front compared to my investing strategy.....Ive lost money over the years on some ventures, made some on others......its all about timing, cash flow..

Sit on the property you have for now, DO NOT STRESS about something you have zero control over and ride the market...we all have to deal with market forces of highs and lows....

The market will turn upwards again at some point I am 110% certain! :)
 
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