
Cairns home prices hit new record high
The latest PropTrack Home Price Index, released Friday, reveals the median home price (houses and units) rose to $585,000 — up 2.2 per cent compared to three months ago.
And, Cairns has recorded home price growth of 10 per cent over the past 12 months.
RELATED: Million-dollar territory: Queensland leads home price growth
Across regional Queensland, home prices were up 0.6 per cent over the month, hitting a new peak, and they have grown nearly 10 per cent in the past financial year.
Townsville was the state's strongest performer over the past 12 months, with its median home price climbing 16.7 per cent to $551,000, followed by Mackay at $557,000 (up 14.5 per cent).
Home prices in regional Queensland have almost doubled over the past five years, rising a whopping 90 per cent.
REA Group senior economist Anne Flaherty said home prices continued to rise across Queensland last month, despite the Reserve Bank's surprise decision to keep interest rates on hold in July.
MORE: Major risk: Rate cut pressure mounts on RBA
'While the number of homes for sale has slowed over winter, buyer demand remains strong, with auction clearance rates sitting at the highest level in more than two years,' Ms Flaherty said.
'Home prices are expected to break into new territory later this year, with further interest rate cuts expected to add momentum to price growth.'
One of the biggest sales in Cairns in July was that of a beachfront home in Clifton Beach.
The four-bedroom house at 147 Arlington Esplanade sold for $2.5m through Craig Gillard of LJ Hooker.
A four-bedroom house with 13m of water frontage in Bluewater Harbour at 20 Brindabella Quay, Trinity Park, also sold for $1.5m.
MORE: Shock as lenders slash rates to lowest level in 2 years off cycle
And, in Freshwater, a four-bedroom house on 800 sqm fetched $1.32m.
Real Estate Institute of Queensland (REIQ) CEO Antonia Mercorella said regional Queensland markets that were once undervalued, like Cairns, had recorded some of the 'most exceptional growth'.
'This strong growth in traditionally slower moving markets is a sign of Queensland's expanding demand footprint and deeper decentralisation,' Ms Mercorella said.
'This is being fuelled by both owner-occupiers and investors seeking value and growth opportunities.'
But she acknowledged a growing affordability issue had emerged.
'The pace at which prices have raced away has left many prospective buyers feeling left behind and locked out,' Ms Mercorella said.
'If we want to ensure sustainable price growth and ensure future generations the same opportunity to own a home, housing policy must be squarely focused on supply.'
Nationally, home prices also hit a record high of $827,000 in July, though the pace of growth
has slowed. Prices were up 0.3 per cent for the month.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Perth Now
15 hours ago
- Perth Now
Households spending on non-essentials as pressures ease
Australians have been splashing out on new cars, food and electronics as price pressures ease. Household spending rose 0.5 per cent in June on top of a one per cent increase in May as shoppers shelled out for new goods, official figures show. Spending on furnishings and household equipment led the charge, growing by two per cent, while clothing and shoes rose by 1.6 per cent and food increased by 1.5 per cent in Australian Bureau of Statistics data released on Tuesday. Australians spent less on alcohol and tobacco, health and eating out in June. Compared to same month in 2024, Australians spent 7.9 per cent more on recreation and culture and 7.5 per cent more on food, with household spending overall sitting 4.8 per cent higher. Data for the June quarter showed a third consecutive rise - of 0.7 per cent - in the volume of household spending to $217.8 billion, driven largely by non-essential purchases on things like recreation and culture, and hotels, cafes and restaurants. The figures reflect "a steady improvement in consumer confidence as price pressures eased over the year", the bureau's head of business statistics Robert Ewing said. Household spending grew in all but one Australian state or territory, with the NT experiencing the biggest rise. The only fall was in WA where it dropped 0.3 per cent. The results were echoed by a lift in consumer confidence to its highest level in three years amid falling inflation and growing hopes of an interest rate cut. Roy Morgan's weekly consumer confidence index, also released on Tuesday, showed a rise of 3.9 to surpass 90 points for the first time since May 2022. The Reserve Bank is widely tipped to cut interest rates at its August meeting after a surprise decision to leave the cash rate unchanged in July.

AU Financial Review
a day ago
- AU Financial Review
‘Entirely committed': Move chief Eales quashes talk of REA leadership
The Australian executive running News Corp's US real estate sales company, Move Inc, has ruled himself out of the race to lead REA Group, insisting he is entirely committed to his current role. Damian Eales has spent the past two years at Move, which owns US property classifieds platform Realtor and aims to replicate the success of owner REA.

News.com.au
2 days ago
- News.com.au
Record sums: Sudden rise in Aussie homeowner wealth stuns experts
Panicked home seekers have been splashing out more money than ever before for properties, smashing longstanding price records across multiple suburbs – often by millions. Record spending has been fuelled by a potent mix of falling interest rates, surging demand and acute listings shortages, especially for quality, well-located homes in Sydney that require no renovations. These forces have funnelled buyers to the same auctions and created a climate where well-heeled buyers are going toe-to-toe, lifting prices for the most desirable homes into the stratosphere. It has followed a general uptick in prices across the market as a whole, with PropTrack data published Friday revealing the Greater Sydney median price has risen for sixth successive months. Prices citywide are also at a new peak, with the median price for a house now at $1.56 million and the median unit price at $860,000. With about third of Australian households having fully paid off their homes, the price rises have been a strong source of wealth creation. 'Buyers are spending much higher amounts,' said Anne Flaherty, REA Group economist. 'It's quite location dependent, but there is an overall lack of supply that's making prices go up.' PropTrack noted rises were most aggressive within affluent inner suburbs, more affordable middle-ring suburbs and a range of 'lifestyle' coastal markets like the northern beaches. Price records have tumbled at an especially rapid pace over the last three months, with the highest-ever sale prices occurring in suburbs from the inner west to St George and up to the north shore. And records have often been at sums normally seen only in exclusive Harbour suburbs in the city like Vaucluse, Point Piper, Rose Bay, Bellevue Hill and their surrounds. North Sydney's suburb record was broken with a $13.5 million sale earlier this year. It was $4 million above the previous highest price paid in the popular north shore area. Nearby hub Chatswood was another suburb where the record house price was smashed, with the suburb getting in April its first $9 million sale for a house on a site without development potential. It was quickly followed by another $9 million-plus sale the same month. The previous highest price in the suburb for a site without the potential to be turned into high-rise apartments was $7.3 million. A few kilometres away, the suburb of Naremburn had a record $6.6 million sale in March, about $1 million higher than the previous highest price there. It was a similar story in a range of suburbs with new records, including Ryde, Brighton Le Sands, Lalor Park, Girraween, Belmore, Georges Hall, Enfield, Strathfield South, Canada Bay and more. Agents revealed that a fear of renovating has had an extra hand in the record sales as soaring building costs have created uncertainty about how much it will cost to overhaul older housing stock. Andrew Cooley, the director of auction group Avenue Auctions, said the appetite for wealthier buyers to get architects and builders to put their own personal stamp on a home through a renovation was low. 'No one knows how much a renovation is going to end up costing because the quotes keep going up so fast,' he said. 'There is also a shortage of houses you can move straight into that tick all the boxes, where you don't need to do a thing, so the competition can be very strong.' Those buying homes at record prices were usually upsizers in well-paid jobs who had a lot of equity they could draw from their existing properties to pump into their next purchase, Mr Cooley added. 'This kind of buyer often isn't in a rush to move from where they are. The attitude often is they'll only really buy another home if something truly exceptional comes along. 'Then when it does, they will throw everything at it (to secure the home).' Michael Garofolo, one of the top auctioneers in Western Sydney, said even cheaper suburbs were getting record sales because people's wages had gone up and they had more borrowing capacity. 'Yes, their income may not have risen by as much as many other things, but there a lot of people who do have more money and they will often put it into property,' he said. Mr Garofolo said recent record sales were usually for houses and were rarely for units. 'Buyers are a lot more hesitant about strata complexes because of the fees,' he said, adding that investors, who historically made up a large share of the buyer pool for a lot of units, was diminished. 'Rental yields (for investors) are not great right now for a lot of unit stock and the prospect of capital growth isn't high either.' McGrath Strathfield agent Tarun Sethi, who sold multiple homes in the inner west for record prices this year, said some records were simply the result of unusual circumstances. Some owners of trophy homes were 'moving to the next chapter of their lives' and their incredible homes were finally coming to market, Mr Sethi said: 'As a consequence we are seeing records broken.' OTHER RECENT RECORDS ENFIELD STRATHFIELD SOUTH CANADA BAY ALFORDS POINT BARDEN RIDGE .