Qld’s “billion dollar club” suburb named in Australia’s top 10

News Corp Australia Network

A Queensland suburb has been named in Australia’s “billion dollar club” for 2022, racking up the third highest total value in sales in the nation.

Surfers Paradise, which recorded a total sales value in excess of $1.079 billion last year, was third on the national list behind Mossman in Sydney ($1.65bn) and Brighton in Melbourne ($1.42bn), according to data from PropTrack.

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Take that Toorak. Picture: iStock

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Also making the national top 10 list were the Victorian suburbs of Kew, Glen Waverley, Toorak and Mount Waverley, and the NSW suburb of Port Macquarie, Castle Hill and St Ives.

This Toorak mansion may have sold for over $80m in 2022 but Surfers Paradise racked up more total sales. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

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PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said the data captured the suburbs with the highest total value in sales.

But those same big hitting suburbs have also taken a knock since the peak of the pandemic property boom, with places like Surfers Paradise recording a 27 per cent drop in total sales in 2022 compared to 2021.

The total value of sales in 2022 was $1.079bn compared to $1.47bn in 2021, the data shows.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh

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Ray White Surfers Paradise agent Jordan Thams said the local market remained strong but stock was a big issue.

“It is because of a lack of supply and we are still getting strong demand from interstate,” he said.

“There are a few reasons for that lack of supply but the main one is that a lot of apartments in Surfers Paradise have been investments and owners are getting record returns on holiday lets.

“And a lot of the investment properties we did sell were to owner occupiers so there just isn’t enough stock to sell so when they do sell, they sells well.”

North Point at Surfers Paradise sold for $20m in 2022 in a secret deal

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The data shows that the top regional suburbs nationally – not including metro locations – were Surfers Paradise, Port Macquarie, Buderim, Southport, Hope Island, Palm Beach, Maroochydore, Robina, Orange and Upper Coomera, with total sales ranging from $502,290,975 to $1.79 billion.

But the analysis also shows that uncertainty in the market and reduced borrowing capacity due to rising interest rates is having a knock-on effect, with total sales values in Hope Island, for example, down 30 per cent in 2022 compared to 2021.

Ms Creagh said this could be because sellers were being forced to meet the market or were simply holding off on listing their properties therefore further reducing the available stock on the market.

“Borrowing capacity for would-be buyers has been constrained by around 30 per cent which will likely weigh further on house prices,” she said.

“We are expecting another rate rise (in February) but if the RBA can hit pause in the first half of this year, we would expect to see any price falls ease and the market to stabilise.”

And there is some “positive demand effects” that should cushion any major blows, Ms Creagh said.

“We still have tight rental markets and international student migration which will offset some of that downward pressure,” she said.

“And we are also seeing interstate buyer interest and activity in the Queensland market with net population flows above the decade average.”