The first sign for me was in Nov when a friend sold a tiny post war house with a nice new deck , a double garage, and a nice block of land high with a view over the top of houses to a forest. It sold for 875. Vendor optimistic expectations were 750.
The second a story of a small unappealing house on display in the shabby part of Rochdale which is 20k out of the city. 50 people queued up for the open house.
The third was a Facebook post at Daisy Hill which is 25k out of the. The poster said 100 cars were filling her street for an open house. She has never seen anything like it.
The fourth a lady gov worker aged 32 made an offer of the advertised price for an old 2 brm unit at cooparoo (6k from city) - 435K. The agent said he'll take it to the owner but said he had 3 other higher offers.
The fifth, a builder I know has started a $400k renovation at Moorooka a suburb where houses were selling under 500k.
Theories put forward are the boom is the result of low interest rates, It's people getting away from inner city apartments that proved to be uncomfortable in the pandemic, it's investors finding something better than bank deposits, it's expatriates it's people from the southern state moving to qld.
All of these theories have merit but they do not explain the huge increase in demand. Before COVID scenes of streets filled with cars for an open house were unheard of in theses suburbs. The interest rate drop of half a percent couldntbhave changed things that much.
if it's people moving from the inner city then it's a mass exodus. I would expect things to be more orderly.
People who invest in deposit savings are used to a highly liquid no fee option. It's hard to believe that they would invest in this type of real estate which is the exact opposite.
There is no evidence of southern mass migration to these suburb. Gold Coast papers are reporting s high number of sales to southerners. But that i believe is to a retirees, inestors, and the holiday house market. These Br8sbane suburbs wouldnt appeal to those buyers.
Expats wouldn't be buying there either.
I spoke 2 builders and an old wiley property investor today. None of them can say what is happening.
