Tweed Shire Real Estate Report 2018

THE WEEKLY has compiled your must-read guide to Tweed Shire’s real estate market this week which features all the best performing property locations across what’s fast becoming one of the most sought-after regions in NSW.

A rush of investors and home buyers over the past 12 months has seen house prices increase by double digit percentages in most parts of the Tweed, while units have sold for between six to 14 per cent more than 12 months ago.

The median house price has hit more than $500K in all suburbs except for Murwillumbah and Tyalgum who are sitting below $500K, whilst units in all areas remain below the half a million-dollar mark, despite recording high growth during the past 12 months. Additionally, many people may have taken the help of real estate consultants (from sites like investwithben.com) in the locality, who would have helped buyers to get properties at discounted rates.

The strongest growth in median house prices since May 2017 was at Tumbulgum where the median price increased by 18.2 per cent to $540K, followed by Bogangar where the median house price is now $695K, or a 17.8 per cent increase.

The credit of fast selling rates cannot only be given to the popularity of the locations and their accessibility to the nearest hospitals, restaurants, grocery stores, and gas stations, but also to the hard work of the owners who had put their hearts and souls to make the dwellings look appealing and promising to the potential buyers. Additionally, many builders are promoting “buy a home” campaigns in order to attract more customers. Internet ads with lucrative deals attract most home buyers, who end up purchasing houses as a result. There are several keywords that are popular during such times, such as “buy a dream home”, “sell a home fast”, “movers near me“, “what should I look for in new homes”, and so on.

Imagine a house in an urban area where every basic necessity is in the palm of the hands; however, the only setback is that the dwelling is in a poor condition. Would someone like to make such a purchase? Of course not! That is why, the credit also goes to the owners, who had gotten the houses inspected, made the repairs, decluttered the abode (which might have included the thorough cleaning of the interiors and exteriors with the help of pressure washing services), and organized them so well that buyers might have started showing active interest in them.

Let us take the example of a property that has been managed properly. If the house has all the facilities that are up to date, then the chances of it being sold are higher. Owners can also include unique installations (statues or art pieces) to increase the value of their homes on the market.

That being said, owners can also include lawns to lift the face value of their homes. Trying to incorporate them into the property is an easy task. After figuring out what type of grass they want to sow like st augustine, Bermuda, or Bluegrass, the following steps should be simple. Improvements such as these, if maintained in pristine condition, can help you make a good first impression on prospective buyers. Thus, proving to be an asset that adds more appeal.

Anyway, coming back to the topic, not far behind was Tweed Heads West (17.2 per cent), Stokers Siding (16.5 per cent) and Tyalgum (15.6 per cent).

Murwillumbah continues to show strong growth in house prices, with the southside increasing by 13.7 per cent to $415K and the town centre up 11.9 per cent to $470K.

Tweed Heads South (13 per cent) performed better than Tweed Heads (10.2 per cent) and Banora Point (10.1 per cent), with Tweed Heads South the most affordable at $520K compared to $700K and $605K respectively.

Kingscliff and Casuarina, who have the highest median prices in the Tweed ($865K and $950K), showed little growth with Kingscliff recording a 1.17 per cent increase while Casuarina dropped 2.6 per cent.

Units recorded less growth than homes, except for Banora Point where unit prices increased by an extra four per cent over houses to 14 per cent and a median price of $420K.

Pottsville units recorded the second highest growth in unit prices of 13.7 per cent to a median price of $473K.

Bogangar was the only area that saw a decrease in unit prices (-1.7 per cent) to $400K, and the remaining areas increased by between six and 11 per cent.

First National Murwillumbah Real Estate Agent Helen Flynn said the Tweed property market remains “strong with good demand for well-priced property across all sections of the market”.

“Strong interest in all sectors of property – but more particularly residential, small acreage and larger holdings in Tweed Valley and Murwillumbah is being fuelled particularly by buyers from the south – Mullumbimby, Brunswick and Byron and to our north from the Gold Coast and Brisbane areas,” she said.

“These buyers are seeking more competitive priced properties compared to their own areas and a quieter more community orientated location with strong potential for growth to relocate with their families.

“Sydney and Melbourne buyers that have been priced out of the city markets are now looking to invest in an area that has all indications of strong potential growth.”

Mrs Flynn said the property market remains a sellers’ market with good enquiries and strong numbers of prospective buyers, both owner occupiers and investors, attending “open for inspections” are indicative of this trend.

“More property development for residential land is very much needed across the Tweed Shire developers are looking for potential sites at the present time,” she said.

“This land is very much needed to service demand and expand our population and the area’s economy and to generate more business and jobs in the area.”

LJ Hooker Coolangatta Tweed Principal Peter Walmsley said the local market remains strong but has slowed a little.

“There are certainly more buyers than sellers at the moment,” Mr Walmsley said.

“There’s a lot of demand for new homes near the border but there’s no new developments to meet the market demand and it’s forcing buyers further north.”

Mr Walmsley said the biggest fear for the future of Tweed and Coolangatta real estate was the Labor Party’s proposed changes to negative gearing.

“If there’s a change of government and negative gearing is squashed it could have a negative impact on the market,” he said.

Mr Walmsley said the properties with the highest demand were small acreages but there’s very few available.

“There’s a huge demand for small acreages but there’s none available,” he said.

“Many buyers are now looking at acreage properties with old homes to fix or knock down, which can come at a big expense.”

Elders Real Estate Tweed Valley Principal Sally Mather said the market remained steady with plenty of enquiries from both buyers and sellers.

“We currently have numerous $400K listings, which is a price range that has plenty to choose from, but the big interest at the moment is coming from the multi-million-dollar properties, which are attracting enquiries all the time from property investors,” she said.

“We’re also finding a lot of people are keen on properties that offer a lot of space or even acreages.

“I think buyers are really seeking space to fulfil that dream lifestyle change and something that gives them more room to move and enjoy their hobbies.”

Mrs Mather said that although property prices were remaining firm, sales were taking a little longer.

“The prices are still firm, but just take a little longer to sell,” she said.

According to the latest Corelogic property analytics released in April, NSW regional markets are now outperforming the big smoke.

Over the past year Sydney’s dwelling values have fallen by 2.1 per cent while NSW regional values rose by 5.1 per cent and the Richmond-Tweed region increased by 2.2 per cent.

CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless said the latest trends are virtually the opposite to the past five years.

“Regional areas are now outperforming the capitals and units are outperforming houses,” he said.

“Also the most expensive properties are now showing weaker conditions than the more affordable ones.”

Mr Lawless said the solid performance of regional markets is mostly attributable to stronger conditions across the larger regional centres located within close proximity to the three major capitals, as well as improving conditions across many of the lifestyle markets.

Housing finance figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics for the past six months have shown an overall decline in housing finance, especially for investors.

The most recent March 2018 figures show an overall 0.2 per cent drop in the value of housing finance, comprising a 0.9 per cent reduction in the value of investment loans but a 0.2 per cent increase in the value of owner-occupier finance.

The number of new owner-occupier loans, however, decreased 0.7 per cent and 2.2 per cent when seasonally adjusted.

“Overall the figures for March 2018 show, in trend terms that the number of owner-occupied finance commitments decreased by 0.7 per cent –the sixth consecutive month of decreases,” Real Estate Institute of Australia President Malcolm Gunning said.

“If refinancing is excluded, in trend terms, the number of owner-occupied finance commitments decreased by 0.9 per cent, again the sixth consecutive month of decreases.”

Recent top market sales over one million

There have been several million-dollar settlements recently with listings still attracting eager buyers at the top of the market.

The Taverna restaurant site at 22 Marine Parade, Kingscliff, which also boasts a luxurious five-bedroom beach house with ocean views sold for $3.2 million in April.

A four-bedroom, three-bathroom unit at Marine Parade, Kingscliff, sold for $1.4 million last week, a five-bedroom, four-bathroom, Fingal Head house sold for $2.58 million last month along with a Reserve Creek Road acreage that sold for $1.1 million.