The Southern Gold Coast market has performed exceptionally well over the last 12 months, turnover is pretty much on par with 2013 - 14 but prices have risen considerably.
 
There is a lot of discussion about what lies ahead for the Gold Coast market this year and nobody has a crystal ball but I thought you might be interested in the latest research article from RP Data Core Logic.
 
“We have also seen a number of pointed warnings about the heat in the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets from both the Reserve Bank and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA). In December 2014 APRA wrote to Australian financial institutions re-iterating what sound lending practices look like and highlighted potential changes for these institutions in the event that these prudent measures weren’t being adhered to. Since then we’ve seen a number of changes to lending practices by lenders.
 
Where are we headed?
Looking at what the next 12 months is likely to hold the expectation is that mortgage rates will remain low however; with lenders changing their lending policies, accessing a mortgage may become more difficult. After three years of strong value growth in Sydney and Melbourne we expect growth to continue however, it should start to slow over the year especially as housing supply continues to trend beyond the current record highs. We are already seeing signs of growth in other markets around the country particularly areas like Newcastle and Wollongong adjacent to Sydney as well as certain pockets in Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine Coasts.
 
We would expect the dramatic differential in affordability in these areas relative to Sydney and Melbourne will drive more buyers to these areas.
 
On the other hand we are seeing significant signs of weakness in both the Perth and Darwin housing markets along with many of the regional markets linked to the resources sector.  These markets are characterised by: slowing value growth or falling home values, falling rental rates, declining sales, increasing discounting levels and time on market and an increase in properties available for sale.
 
Overall, it looks as though housing market conditions will remain mixed across the country over the next 12 months.
Sydney and Melbourne are likely to continue to be the stand-outs for capital growth however; we expect that over the year the rate of growth will reduce back to more sustainable levels.
 
We may also see a further pick-up in growth in markets such as Brisbane, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Gold and Sunshine Coast."