More homes bought and sold in Queensland than NSW or Victoria

More homes were bought and sold in Queensland over the last quarter than in either NSW or Victoria for possibly the first time in history, new research has revealed.

With COVID-jaded Sydneysiders and Melburnians buying up big in the Sunshine State, as well as locals splashing out for their own sea and tree changes, $42 billion worth of property was settled from July to September – a staggering 93 per cent up on last year.

“This is so rare to see, but Queensland just hasn’t experienced the extended lockdowns that have affected Victoria and NSW,” said Mike Gill, the head of research at online property exchange network PEXA.

“They’ve both had a lot of disruption around their real estate markets, but Queensland has powered through to become the standout performer and shows no sign of slowing down. So many people have been looking for lifestyle changes, and now they’re acting on them.”

The latest PEXA quarterly Property and Mortgage Insights report on home sales from July to September this year found that generally there was a softening of Australia’s property market compared to the previous quarter.

Although more than 210,000 sales, worth more than $183 billion, were settled nationally during the quarter – the first of the 2022 financial year – that figure was slightly down by 2.5 per cent on the previous three months. However, the number of sales was up 34 per cent on last year, with the dollar value growing 78 per cent.

“We’re seeing a lot of interstate migration into Queensland which has pushed up the sales figures there,” said Mr Gill. “When we look at the top 10 suburbs nationally for sales, Surfers Paradise made that list, and Greater Brisbane experienced 62 per cent growth year-on-year for the month of August.

“NSW and Victoria, however, were both down on the previous quarter. Both states have been clamped by lockdowns but, when restrictions ease, if previous lockdowns are anything to go by, we expect them to bounce back and make a recovery.”

NSW recorded 58,000 sale settlements over the quarter, down four per cent on the previous one, but still up 29 per cent year-on-year, for a total of $71 billion, which was also up 80 per cent compared to last year.

While the state’s biggest volume falls were in Greater Sydney – the area hardest hit by lockdowns – regional centres like Port Macquarie, Orange and Dubbo experienced strong sales.

Victoria had 56,000 sales, five per cent less than the previous quarter, but up 34 per cent year-on-year and with a value of more than $50 billion, up 79 per cent on last year.

There, Greater Melbourne was hit by the sharpest fall in sales, while demand for regional Victoria also softened, but not as dramatically.

Meanwhile, Western Australia recorded 23,000 sale settlements, down four per cent on the quarter, but up 36 per cent on the year and worth $13 billion, up 62 per cent, according to the PEXA report.

South Australia’s 14,000 transactions were down eight per cent on the quarter, but up 20 per cent year-on-year with its $7 billion total up 35 per cent.

“There are signs that the property markets in both the west and South Australia may have peaked since they both showed volume declines over the quarter despite having no pandemic restrictions,” said Mr Gill.

“But we’ll be looking closely at them during the spring selling season as sales traditionally dip in the winter months.”

Ironically, of the top 10 suburbs for national sales volumes – apart from Surfers Paradise – all were in Victoria, with eight in Victorian growth corridors. They were Melbourne, Wollert Point, Cook, Werribee, Craigieburn, Pakenham, Clyde North, Truganina and Tarneit.

“These are mostly high-development greenfield areas where we’re seeing a lot of new builds,” said Mr Gill.

“During the pandemic, we also saw the Federal Government’s HomeBuilder scheme, which offered $25,000 grants to build or renovate, and that encouraged a lot of sales before it ended in March.

“But coming towards Christmas, when we hopefully see more COVID restrictions ease and we move into the traditional strong selling season, we should go back to some kind of normal.”

NSW’s top 10 suburbs for home sales were Sydney, Blacktown, Goulburn, Austral, Marsden Park, Leppington, Dubbo, Orange, Port Macquarie and Schofields, while Queensland’s top 10 were Surfers, Helensvale, Robina, Pimpama, Coomera, Caboolture, Hope Island, Buderim, Maroochydore and Southport.