This is Australia's most heavily discounted property: 1350 Wynnum Road, Tingalpa. This modest post-war home in Brisbane's eastern suburbs has been on the market for 200 days, having dropped its asking price by 43 per cent. When it was first listed in November 2010, the deceased estate was advertised at $700,000. That has been steadily reduced to $400,000. The scenario is Australia's worst but, says property expert Louis Christopher of SQM Research, it won't be the exception. Two other south-east Queensland homes are in the top 10 discounted properties, having slashed their prices by 37 and 38 per cent. Discounting was rife across the state, many vendors being forced to accept offers far lower than they would have last year, Mr Christopher said. "Put simply, house prices are falling. The figures can't be disputed by real estate optimists any longer," he said. "Buyers are now well aware of this and are, as they should be, taking full advantage of the situation by offering well below the asking price of a property. "Vendors are always the last to know and it seems that many have not caught on yet. They are still personally affronted at the offers being made to them but the reality is, if they don't take today's offers, they risk getting even lower ones in a few months' time." Mr Christopher said the magnitude of the decline differed in each region of Queensland: some areas were suffering a marginal decline, others an acute drop. He listed the Gold and Sunshine Coasts as the worst hit in the state. Property prices in both regions were predicted to drop by almost 25 per cent by the end of the year. "Queensland is taking the lead where the slashing of prices is concerned," Mr Christopher said. "It's a tough market for vendors but they need to realise their offers could get worse." In the northern outskirts of Brisbane, Ray White agent Paul Lewis is seeing vendors being forced to drop their sale prices by $9000 to $10,000 every month. "Yes, there is a lot of discounting going on at the moment. It's a tough market," Mr Lewis said. "Consumer sentiment is the dangerous element here because, as soon as people start feeling that the market has gone bad, it actually will go bad." He said that, in Bellmere, west of Caboolture, sales had fallen by 50 per cent in the past 12 months. "Activity is right down. It's difficult for agents and difficult for the sellers, who are always hoping they'll get top price," he said. LJ Hooker agent Janelle Randall, who is marketing the Tingalpa property, said its predicament was due to a combination of factors. "It's on a main road so it's always going to have its challenges and it was probably listed too high in the beginning," she said. "Obviously it would have sold very quickly in 2009 if it had gone on at a more reasonable price. "That said, the current market has made things even worse."
