Interstate migration will keep the Gold Coast property market afloat, according to a leading real estate expert. INTERSTATE migration will keep the Gold Coast property market afloat while other areas across the country, including Melbourne and Sydney, are in decline. REIQ Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson said people would continue to move to the Glitter Strip as long as it was affordable and offered a good lifestyle, jobs and quality amenities. “We’re still seeing reasonably good numbers of people moving to the Gold Coast,” he said. “Our strength in a lot of our sales is the owner-occupier side … and it has been for a number of years now. Herron Todd White’s latest month in review report shows the Gold Coast market is softening. “We’re an attraction city at this point in time, I see that as a positive going forward.” His comments followed the release of leading property...

Investment activity in the Gold Coast office market was subdued in 2018 with few assets on offer, although Knight Frank expects the tide to change this year with around $90 million in assets hitting the market in 2019's first quarter. The office investment market on the Gold Coast, Australia’s sixth largest city, has traditionally been dominated by private investors and syndicators given the relatively smaller investment scale. But as confidence builds with a higher level of tenant demand and the depth of the market, Knight Frank’s Mark Witheriff says the region is “likely to appear on the radar for a greater swathe of investors”. Sustained population growth is forecast to average two per cent per annum over the 25 year period from 2016 to 2041, with the majority of growth to come from both internal and overseas migration attracted to lifestyle and educational opportunities, according to Knight Frank's Gold Coast...

Visitors to Queensland for the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games faced increased room rates as hotel operators cashed in on the visitor boom. The Gold Coast’s hotel performance was largely driven by high rate premiums during the event, which ran from April 4 to April 15. According to a report from research group STR, the average daily rate came in at $347.38 – a 76 per cent increase over the same 12-day period in 2017. The market’s growth in revenue per available room exceeded 100 per cent most nights during the event, with the peak level occurring the night of the opening ceremony on April 4 – jumping 205.4 per cent to $294.26. The spike in average daily rate and revenue per available room occurred despite the fact that Gold Coast hotels did not register at-capacity occupancy levels. The market experienced its highest occupancy level (92.8 per cent) on the...