There has been dramatic surge in buyer activity in Regional Queensland, converting the recovery we recorded three months ago into a potential boom market.

 

The number of locations with rising markets has increased significantly, while locations with negative trends have decreased.

 

Three months ago in the Spring 2023 edition of the Price Predictor Index we commented that 

 

Regional Queensland had emphatically joined the comeback theme which dominated national property markets, recovering from the bottom of the trough experienced earlier in the year.

 

Our Spring 2023 survey revealed a dramatic turnaround of the rapid downward slide which marked the previous 12 months. 

 

Since then, Regional Queensland markets have gone to the next level, with previous recovering markets converting into rising ones, and locations which were previously plateau or declining markets transforming into recovering ones.

 

Now, 76% of Regional Queensland locations have positive classifications (rising, consistency or recovering), compared with 67% three months ago and just 32% six months ago.

 

The number of rising markets has increased from just 16 in the Winter 2023 survey to 37 in the Spring 2023 survey and now 93 in this new Summer 2023-24 survey.

 

Some of the key Regional Queensland centres are now booming markets, while others are in the recovery phase and heading in that direction. Very few have yet to get on board with the trend of positive markets, with just 13 locations across Regional Queensland classified as declining markets, compared with 86 in our Winter 2023 survey six months ago.

 

The Gold Coast is at the forefront of the Regional Queensland revival: of the 49 suburbs in our analysis, 46 have positive classifications, including 23 which are ranked as rising markets.

 

The Sunshine Coast market is on the recovery path but less advanced than the Gold Coast. Of the 46 Sunshine Coast locations in our analysis, 32 have positive classifications, but as yet only 11 are ranked as rising markets, while 18 are recovering. There remain 13 locations with negative classifications, compared with only three on the Gold Coast.

 

Other regional cities which are well advanced in the return to growth markets include Cairns (20 of 28 suburbs have positive rankings) and Gladstone (12 of 14 are positive).

 

Key regional centres which are heading towards growth but are dominated at this stage by recovering suburbs include Mackay, Bundaberg, Fraser Coast and Townsville.

 

Rockhampton remains patchy, though largely positive.

 

Toowoomba has been a national standout in the past couple of years, but may be moderating: 10 of its 25 locations now have negative classifications. A resurgence is likely when major new infrastructure projects get under way.