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Living your Luxe Life on the Sunshine Coast.
We have conversations with people who have found “home” on the Sunshine Coast & explore how they connect home with lifestyle & community.
As Property Buyers Agent we also discuss the macro economic factors impacting economic growth & property growth & where we are in the property cycle.
We overlay local market nuances of different sub markets from Noosa Heads to Maroochydore, to the Hinterland.
I hope you enjoy the series Living Your Luxe Life.
Hi. I'm Christina from Luxe Coastal Property Buyers. Welcome to Living Your Luxe Life. Today, I have a very special guest on the podcast, Tim Lawless, executive research director of CoreLogic Asia Pacific. Welcome, Tim.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Christine. Great to be here.
Speaker 1:Great to have you. For those who of you who don't know, Tim is the executive researcher for CoreLogic for Asia Pac. He's a man behind the data, behind the numbers that we're looking at on a weekly basis. Tim, I'd like to get to know the man behind the numbers a little bit before we start. So, you live locally here in Noosa Nooserville, Noosiborters.
Speaker 1:Why did you choose this beautiful location?
Speaker 2:Well, we moved up here about 11, maybe 12 years ago, and so we've been around for a while. Not quite long after we called a local just yet, I don't think, but, but maybe eventually. So we we looked at, the Sunny Coast, and we originally bought out of sun Sunshine Beach. Yeah. And, very quickly well, actually, when we when we moved up, that place was being rented out.
Speaker 2:So we we rented in, in Newciville for the little while. And then, ultimately, when we moved back into Sunshine Beach, we'd already had the, I guess, the flavor and the taste of Noosa building in Noosa Waters and had this connection with the water which we loved. Yeah. So we're not selling Sunshine Beach and moved back into Noosa Waters, and that's allowed me to, you know, fulfill my my fishing hobby.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, we we certainly get out in the water whenever we can. So, yeah, it was a real connection with the water. Yeah. But choosing the the broader sort of Noosa, Sunshine Coast area was all about the style and getting some balance back with work as well. It was really important for us to be able to spend time as a family Yeah.
Speaker 2:And also, you know, have have a, like, an airport and commitability back to Brisbane or into Sydney as well. So kinda ticked all the boxes.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And that was before remote working was really quite common. So how did you navigate that before before pre COVID?
Speaker 2:Yeah. It was, back then, it was kind of rare for someone to be working remotely, and I just figured that I was travelling so much, and a lot of my, my time was spent with clients or at events and stuff like that. So, I just found the productivity of of remote working, what suited me, and my team was very geographically dispersed anyway in New Zealand and Sydney and Brisbane, Melbourne, and so on. So, yeah, it it made it made a lot of sense to to to base ourselves at the Sunshoeing coast but still have that accessibility to any of the offices that CoreLogic have around the country and and our clients, which are generally Brisbane and Sydney.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's right. That's you're really ahead of the curve then for remote working for a lifestyle location because what we have seen is I'm just gonna talk about Noosa because that's where you live. Since, the COVID era, shall we say, a lot more families have moved into that neighborhood. Yeah.
Speaker 1:We've seen retirees sort of being sort of maybe downsizing to a smaller property replaced by a lot of people with their own businesses.
Speaker 2:Yeah. There's a lot more couples with kids Yeah. A lot more families, younger families as well. So I think, what what was probably more of a mature demographic Yeah. When we first arrived up here is slowly starting to just morph into something that's a little bit younger.
Speaker 2:I mean, it's still a fairly affluent market around, around the Newsel Noosa waters in particular, but Noosaville, then Noosa, and, and Sinchmore Beach overall. It is starting to change, and I think a lot more people have also decided to occupy their holiday homes permanently rather than use it as holiday. So there's there's been more permanent residents as well.
Speaker 1:So we're going to do a deep dive on this prestige property market in Australia. But before we get started, why do you think Noosevelt is the only regional suburb in Australia in the top 30 prestige suburbs?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So it's important to understand how we're measuring that for starters. So that particular status based on the number of sales over $5,000,000 So I'm sure if we looked at a benchmark of, say, 20,000,000 plus or something, you wouldn't have found Noosaville to be top of our list. It'll probably be, Noosa Heads or Sunshine Beach where prices are actually more expensive than Noosaville. So Noosaville has, high turnover.
Speaker 2:It's also got more dwellings and probably doesn't have the same level of as most scarcity that you might find in somewhere like Noosa Sound, which is, is riverfront or Sunshine Bench where homes tend to be a little bit more tightly held.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think, you were talking about Noosa Sound versus Noosa Waters. People who aren't but don't know the region, they're quite different precincts in the Noosa region. Noosa Waters has it's traditionally been second cousin to Noosa Sound. Can you just sort of explain that dynamic a little bit?
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, Noosa Sound definitely has a price premium over Noosa Waters. It's it's the most expensive
Speaker 1:23,000,000 this year for a house. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's, it's up there, to say the least. Yeah. So well, one of the big differences is, if you're in Noosa Sound, you you have direct deepwater access into the river and then into the ocean as well. Noosa Waters has that also, but you go through a lock and wear system.
Speaker 2:So for a lot of people, that's actually more desirable simply because to get into that that that canal precinct, you need to flash a swipe card and get in there, so there's not as much boat traffic coming through. It's a bit quieter. Yep. It's probably arguably a little bit more private
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:As well, which, which a lot more people seem to be, you know, looking towards. If you're on Noosa Sound, you do get a lot of boat traffic coming through, which is fantastic because it's a moving view Yeah. But you also get the ferry coming through. You get a lot of pontoon boats, party boats over by as well, and, naturally Yeah. People are gonna be looking in other people's windows and saying, oh, wow.
Speaker 2:What an amazing home. Yeah. You won't have the same privacy, I suppose, as you might have in Noosa Park.
Speaker 1:So it has the, I suppose, the flexibility or the benefit of being closer to, say, Hastings Street, which is traditionally the tourist hub, and there's a property for sale at 10 Noosa Parade at the moment down there. But I think for living in community, Noosa Water seems to tick a lot of the boxes, I think.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, that that's that's where I live, and it's got a very, very strong community. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So it's got its own community, organization as well, the the the Noosa Waters and well, a couple I don't remember the name they call themselves anyway. The they've got their own little community organization. And as I said, there's a lot of families, and there seems to be a lot more permanent residents there now as well rather than they're still holiday homes, but a lot more people think they're permanent residents.
Speaker 1:I'm also Noosa Waters, and we're actually recording this podcast at the Noosa Boat House, and I chose it because it does anchor community. On a Friday evening and a Sunday evening, they have live music down here. So kids of a young age playing in the beachfronting the river, people of all ages, like teenagers and then sort of older people dancing to this live music. But we're sitting in the Sunset Bar, which has the best sunsets, I think, in Noosa, so that's often a Friday night sort of venue as well. It's well as having an amazing restaurant downstairs.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, there's always a real crowd, the busker there, doesn't it?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. It really does.
Speaker 2:You can BYO and, you can get some takeaway from a lot more restaurants, and, there's a real crowd, a real buzz.
Speaker 1:I love it. That's great. So let's talk about this, prestige property market report that you actually did in 2024 with, Westpac Private Bank. Yeah. Very interesting report.
Speaker 1:So what I've done is I've distilled that report and pulled out what I think is relevant to the Sunshine Coast. I think you've already touched on the prestige property market is defined as properties over 5,000,000. There's been a sharp increase in the number of properties over 5,000,000 in transactions since 2019. So what are the dynamics of the prestige, property market, and what's driving this increase in growth?
Speaker 2:The first thing we did when we wrote this report was we're trying to, I suppose, identify or determine what what constitutes prestige property in Australia. We quickly realized it's impossible. Yeah. If you look at the 99th percentile, the market gate, the 95th percentile, you're looking at the 75th percentile to the upper quartile of the market, but it's so different from region to region and market to market. So we we chose a a really intuitive benchmark, which is 5,000,000 plus and then broke it down by 10,000,000 and 20,000,000 plus as well.
Speaker 2:So what the data show was between 9 22,019 and 2021 sales of more than $5,000,000 increased by more than 200%. Yes. Incredible. I mean, sales activity did did rise significantly everywhere and across all price points through the pandemic, but there was a real bracket creep into that that prestige benchmark of 5,000,000 plus. In fact, the 10,000,000 plus, 30, 20,000,000 plus categories increased by an even larger percentage, about more than 200%.
Speaker 2:So it was significant. But a lot of people were through the pandemic, and then then afterwards, they were looking for space. They're looking for lifestyle. More people were working remotely and and looking for, like, you know, living arrangements that they were gonna be comfortable and suitable for that. So I think that in itself was a big part of it.
Speaker 2:And then as we saw international borders reopening, we did see foreign investments starting to pick up a little bit, Expats starting to return to Australia as well. So there wasn't really one single factor that that drove the premium markets into the stratosphere. It was a lot of things, and we're still seeing prices and volume holding pretty high, not quite at those 2021 highs where interest rates were very low Yeah. But still way above what they were pre pandemic.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And you talked back in the report that, you know, the prestige market's coming into almost an asset class of its own. It's not always operating the same fundamentals or market growth as the rest of the market. Why do you think that is? Is that to do with there's a lot of cash buyers in the prestige market?
Speaker 1:Or That's
Speaker 2:definitely part of it. Yeah. I find prestige markets don't have the same, I guess, vulnerabilities to things like economic shocks or to interest rates rising or falling. They do tend to operate on a very different, I suppose, paradigm. So a lot of people buying to the prestige market also have the benefit of equity they've accrued in previous home ownership as well.
Speaker 2:We've seen a lot of that here on the sunny coast where you might be summing out of a market like Sydney or Melbourne, and, you know, your capital tends to go a lot further once you once you come north across the border as well. So there's been a lot of that capital flow coming in across the border into southeast Queensland.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I think, you know, when you say the capital goes a lot further, are you talking also about the size of the dwellings that you get for the same price? Like, if you look at what you can buy in Melbourne, say, for 5,000,000, which is more than what you could have 2 years ago, but compared to here, you are getting larger homes, extra space, all those lifestyle factors that you're talking about. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Melbourne is a good example. Yeah. I mean, if you're buying into somewhere like Turac or Brighton or something like that, then there are a lot of very, very large or homes on very large, being in the land and properties. Yeah.
Speaker 2:They they tend to have a huge price tag within as well. Yeah. Sydney is a better example where, you know what, you might be selling out of a terrace home in Surrey Hills or something like that for 5,000,000 Yeah. And you're buying into this marketplace on an 800 plus square meter block of land with a 5 bedroom home on it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Also huge difference. Yeah. Huge difference, especially when when you have a lot more buyers in that space.
Speaker 1:Yeah. And I even think, you know, 1,800,000. Say, what can you buy in inner city Melbourne for 1.8? You know, it would be a terrace house. It would be unrenovated.
Speaker 1:Whereas if you moved into a suburb like Sunrise Beach that is, you know, not beachfront, but it's in the back, you could get a 4 bedroom home that's renovated for that same price, and you can walk through the beach Yeah. If it's in the right pocket. You can. I lived here 1 the other day. So let's talk about how the Sunshine Coast is performing in the prestige property market relative to Australia as a whole.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, I mean, the Sunshine Coast has really been quite attractive to a lot of buyers, both local buyers either moving from Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, interstate, or even, you know, local buyers here on the Sunshine Coast that might be upgrading or downsizing. Yeah. So it's been very very popular in that sense, but you've also seen housing values have been rising a lot faster through the pandemic on the Sunshine Coast, which is a reflection of a really strong demand side fundamental. There's a lot of people who wanna live in this sort of area against the backdrop of very low supply levels.
Speaker 2:So that's really propelled prices much higher. We've seen Sunshine Coast as a whole, housing prices up here are up more than 70% since the onset of the pandemic. Yeah. They've absolutely burnt. Yeah.
Speaker 2:We're not seeing prices rising as quickly as that anymore. We've definitely seen the rate of growth has slowed down. We're certainly not seeing any negative movements, just yet anyway, and, it looks like this market is probably set for further growth. Again, not as anywhere near as strong as what we're seeing through the pandemic when the market was moving up from a lower base
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it does still seem that supply levels are quite low, demand is, still quite strong. That imbalance in itself should keep some up with pressure on prices.
Speaker 1:Yeah. No. I I think that's really interesting actually because I think the key is growth is slowing, but there's still growth. Sometimes when people see these numbers, they're going, oh, it used to be 10%, now it's 4%. It's going backwards.
Speaker 1:No. It's not. It's still growing at 4% in the last 12 months or 10%. So we're not seeing those huge jumps that we we saw previously.
Speaker 2:No. That's exactly right. Yeah. The market's slowing down. It's not going back.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah. So I think, you know, if you look, how then Queensland or south Southeast Queensland's comparing it to the rest of the country, Obviously, it's outperforming, Melbourne and Sydney at the moment Yep. But Perth is the strongest market. How's Canberra going?
Speaker 2:Canberra's, pretty flat, actually. Yeah. Yeah. There's 4 markets around the country where values actually fell over the September quarter. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It was Melbourne, Quebec, Canberra, and Bauer. Yeah. So, Melbourne's leading the downturn, but it's still a pretty shallow downturn. Yeah. For the past year, values there are down about 1.4%.
Speaker 2:That is
Speaker 1:that is a shallow downturn.
Speaker 2:It's a really shallow downturn. It's not like the
Speaker 1:market's crashing.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Pretty much leveled out. Yeah. Same with Canberra.
Speaker 2:Hobart is has seen a a larger downturn in Belize. They're down about 12 a half percent since it peaked.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But that came after a really long and strong run of growth. Yeah. Perth, on the other hand, Belize, they're up about 25% over the past year. Yeah. But, again, that's a market that was previously quite weak prior to the pandemic.
Speaker 2:It had come out of the mining boom and had been seeing flat the falling prices for for nearly a decade.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So it was coming off a very low base there, so it had to grow. Okay. Let's talk about the top 20 regional suburbs. The Sunshine Coast, as we said, is a is outperforming.
Speaker 1:So the Sunshine Beach has a median house price of 2,820,000, which is only behind ports in Flinders, which I found very interesting. It was right at the top there. Sunshine Beach also had the largest sale in Queensland last year at 28,000,000, and that was 3,500 square meters of beachfront property, very unique site. And Noosa came in at 9th position and Noosaville at 10th. So what are the common traits of sought after regional prestige suburbs?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there there's a there's a few commonalities here. Yep. One of them is gonna be access and proximity to the water. Yep.
Speaker 2:So you can see that clearly. I mean, Noosa Heads, Sunshine Beach, Noosa Ville, Sunrise Beach is on the list there. It's, I think, down the bottom, tell me.
Speaker 1:And Prigene beaches.
Speaker 2:The Prigene's are
Speaker 1:there as well. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So there's also the fact that all these, Queensland coastal markets are in the the Noosa LGA. Yeah. And so if there anyone who doesn't know, Sunshine Coast is broken up by the Sunshine Coast Council and the Noosa Shrine. So Noosa Shrine tends to have a tighter town plan, supply, additional sort of marketplace, which are generally quite, minimal and low density.
Speaker 2:Although that that probably will change in the future to some extent. Just given affordability challenges, and we need more accommodations for for for lower income families and service workers and so forth. But I think, that's probably the main one is proximity to the water, would be key, and then you've also got the, I suppose, the lifestyle elements. Even once you get away from the water into some of the hinterland markets, think about, like, Dunedin, 10birwa, Lake Wyber, any of those those hinterland markets also have I mean, probably some different orders, 10 minute drive, but they've also got a lot of space.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's really interesting, but people sometimes think hinterland I don't wanna live in the hinterland because it's too far from the beach, but it's actually 10 to 15 minute drive in some cases, isn't it? It's very, very close.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You get the best in both worlds.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Get shed for all your toys Yeah.
Speaker 1:And,
Speaker 2:you're out of time with the drive for the beach.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's quite remarkable. I think, also, you touched on earlier, access to airports as being a key factor, like Brisbane and even local airports. How does that play into it?
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's really important. Now that we're in this day of, this day and age of remote working and hybrid, working arrangements, I think that's got some permanency to it, maybe not to the same extent as what we had through the worst of the pandemic, but I think the reality is a lot more people will be working remotely at least part of their working week. So having access to an airport is really important. So the route to the airport up here on the Sunshine Coast, it's, it's pretty good.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't say it's fantastic. It's, you've got flights direct to Sydney, to Melbourne. Pretty easy drive down to Brisbane if you wanna go down, like, our 4th markets. You can get to some regional markets. There are flights to New Zealand, which are seasonal as well, so it really enables that commutability, not necessarily to Brisbane, which is, you know, an hour and a half drive, but to the major financial markets, Sydney, Melbourne, of course.
Speaker 2:Really important to have connections there, and I'm I'm usually at the airport weekly
Speaker 1:Yeah. Pretty much. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, so, yeah, it's it's good to have that on your doorstep.
Speaker 1:It is good. It is a very easy drive down to Brisbane, and what we found recently is this is people from abroad. We've had, just recently, you know, trends if you look, Americans who who are in the prestige market and who are looking to buy here, you know, just like those 3 at the same time, but all around similar budget, but also similar industries. Right? So whether it's just, let's say, the finance sector, but the, close proximity to the airport like Brisbane, because they still need to connect back every now and again, is really, really important.
Speaker 1:And if you you're getting further away like 2 and a half hours, it becomes less attractive, I think.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. I think there's a sweet spot. Yeah. And you wanna be within that 2 hour communability range Yeah. To a major capital city Yeah.
Speaker 2:That's Brisbane for us. And the airport from Noosa, like Murugidoo Airport, on a good day is probably 20 to 20 to 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the the regular area of flights, it pretty good as well. So
Speaker 1:Yeah. So depending on where you are on the Sunshine Coast, because it's actually a narrow coastal area, is sometimes like an hour 10 minutes to Brisbane if you're further down that end, and where we are up at Noosa today, it's probably an hour 45, you would say. Yeah. That's really interesting. So just a real a broad question.
Speaker 1:How do you see the Olympics in 2032 impacting the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane?
Speaker 2:Well, clearly, this is this is a positive. Yeah. You know, there's the Olympics really puts South Africa on the map in many ways. It's a big branding thing, but the impact of the Olympics goes well beyond that. It's for me, anyway, it's mostly about the infrastructure development that comes alongside the electric.
Speaker 2:And so you definitely get a brand boost, which has an immediacy to it, but there's this real legacy of a major infrastructure investment that we're going to be seeing in line with the electrics. So transport improvements, their new stadium, hopefully new stadium, and, athletes village, which will have a legacy to it as well. But, yeah, I think for for the Sunny Coast, it's going to be about the improvements in the arterial road networks. There is more funding for the the light rail coming into Ochador as well. So, yeah, I think, clearly, it's a positive.
Speaker 2:And in line or running up at the Olympics, there's gonna be a lot of demand for workers to build this infrastructure, and that's where we'll see further demand for housing by rental housing and purchasing demand Yeah. Which in itself tends to I mean, capital works tends to drive capital gains, the immediate long run.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It definitely went I mean, it's also been under pressure that we'll be welcomed, I think, by the local community as well. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. Remember, it's not the Brisbane Olympic Games. It is really southeast Queensland, but it's so it's great to see this. You know, it's hosting some of these events as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah. That's pretty exciting. Another person we did a podcast with Charlene Kelly. She's been a world champion paddler, and she's got the job of talent scout for actually going, you know, to the younger generation to try and identify kids who'll be ready for the 20 32 Olympics. It's a pretty good job, isn't it?
Speaker 1:Okay. It takes around the country, but she is responsible for southeast Queensland. And, yeah, so they're they're definitely on it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, there'll be a few locals up here. I'm sure they will be putting their hands on for a
Speaker 1:I'm sure there will be. Yeah. I'm sure there will be. Let's look at just some quick stats about investing in the region. We're talking about global population growth to 20 30.
Speaker 1:Australia is forecast at 15%, only second behind Canada, followed by New Zealand at 9%, so there's a bit of a difference. And what was surprising to me was the US was only at 5% and UK at 2%. Were you surprised by these numbers? Not
Speaker 2:at all. I mean, Australia has always had a history or, not always, but, you know, since the the mid to late 2000, so population growth has been significant. We are really seen as a as a destination, for for net overseas migration. We are like like most Western nations, we have an Asian population as well, so there's that. Population growth is quite stimulatory from an economic perspective as well.
Speaker 2:If we didn't have population growth as strong as it is now, we'd be in a recession by by by. Yeah. So true. So, yeah, there's definitely that. So it doesn't surprise me that population growth is forecast to remain strong.
Speaker 2:The most important thing we need to keep in mind with strong population growth, as stimulatory as it is, there is also, you know, you need to have appropriate level of infrastructure development to to to run-in live at population growth and appropriate levels of housing development as well. Yeah. So for anyone that's not in Australia may not be aware, we're in a housing crisis here. We need a lot more homes, and your population growth is going to continue as strong as what it is. We need to be building a lot.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Do you know, I think that housing crisis is a big topic, but I've also noticed that other parts of the world have a similar housing crisis, but albeit not as as strong as Australia. Is that driven by, like, 2 2 to 3 years of, muted construction because of the price of construction during the pandemic, or why has this suddenly emerged that so many countries have this problem with housing?
Speaker 2:The commonality absolutely is that throughout the pandemic, we saw construction costs rise spectacularly Yeah. Partly because of labor costs went up going a lot, but also the input cost to construction went up a lot as well. So steel, structural timbers, there's been a lot of supply chain disruptions. Yeah. So profit margins for builders have been really, really quite similarly squashed.
Speaker 2:Again, a lot not as much as what we've seen here in Australia. It's been much more significant, and we've got these ongoing challenges here locally where there's a lot of big infrastructure development that's competing with the same sort of skills and trades as what we need for residential construction Yeah. On top of the the very high in construction costs, which you've provided management
Speaker 1:in the group. So it's really access also to labor.
Speaker 2:Labor scarcity is Yes. A big part of it. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Okay. We also had the total net internal migration to the Sunshine Coast is 17 a half percent. It's a standout, followed by the Gold Coast at 8.1%. Now that's still in line with historic trends, or is it has that changed?
Speaker 2:That's that's more significant than normal. Yeah. Absolutely. So, we are seeing Southeast Queensland tracking the bulk of internal migration to Queensland, so and it's that's that's logical and normal when you think about it. I mean, the amenity is, and we talked about the commutability and so forth to the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast, to a lesser extent Toowoomba Yeah.
Speaker 2:Are always going to be popular because they're commutable into, into Brisbane and the happy airports and the amenity and so forth. But we are seeing some of the more regional markets like Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton, they're showing very strong housing conditions at the moment. But from a really low base, like Townsville's got a immediate house price of around $500,000 and it's rising quite quickly. If you look at the dollar value changes compared to, say, the Sunny Coast to Townsville, the Sunny Coast is rising a lot more despite a lower percentage growth rate.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yes. That's not that's very interesting. I think, let's just talk about investment in general. We've seen, investors now make up 38.6 of new loan commitments, the highest since 2017.
Speaker 1:What's driving that increased interest?
Speaker 2:Yeah. That's a national figure. So it's, typically, you'd expect to see investors about a third on mortgage demand. So it's quite elevated. It's approaching the 40% mark.
Speaker 2:Queensland's even higher than that. So you generally find most investors or the largest portions of investment activity are flowing into those markets where capital gain is stronger. So Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. That's
Speaker 2:generally what the best Yeah. Chase is capital gains.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Are you finding, many Victorians, because of the higher property taxes at the moment, including the change in land tax legislation, they're actually reallocating funds, selling, and reallocating up here, or you don't
Speaker 2:is that It's definitely happening. Yeah. There's been quite a bit on the news recently about rental bonds in Victoria. They've actually been going backwards the last 2 quarters, which that's the first time I've ever seen that historically. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So investors are looking to sell partly, as you say, the taxation environment in Victoria is very high, but also greener pastures outside of Victoria. And Yeah. Australian investors tend to chase capital growth Yeah. And that's why we're seeing more investment in WA, Queensland, and South Australia. Longer term, yeah, Melbourne could be, you know, a bit of a roughy to look at at the moment given it's got a longer price space.
Speaker 2:It's improving affordability, but you'd have to think southeast Queensland is gonna be quite a strong investment market given its strong population growth and generally lower lower price points compared to Sydney and prospects for capital gains being quite strong.
Speaker 1:No. So it's it's a great place to be, I think, at the moment to invest, and we are finding that. We are having comments from people because the larger your portfolio in, Victoria, the increase in land tax is so far out surpassing what it is in Queensland. So I think people who never invested in Queensland are like, if you put that over 10 years, you know, the annual charges, they just need to go to green pastures.
Speaker 2:Yeah. But there's also I mean, you've got your land tax, which is huge. You've got high stamp duty in Victoria. You've got vacancy taxes. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You've got, any number of of additional costs. And then you've on top of that, you've also got the high maintenance costs given higher construction costs.
Speaker 1:And And the change in the Residential Tenancy Act of Victoria has made it much more expensive to hold the investments at the moment too.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Tenancy reform and minimum standards, of course, also have their own cost implications.
Speaker 1:So Yeah. So they've got the perfect storm, but it does make, for investors in Victoria, they could consider Queensland at the moment and get a bit yeah. Yep. Better returns. So let's talk about your top suburbs for investment in the Sunshine Coast.
Speaker 1:Where would you focus? Tim Lawless, good question.
Speaker 2:I'd always be looking to the scarcity. I think that's probably the most important thing with Investment opportunities is, what can I do to ensure that you're not buying into a market that could be oversupplied, which ultimately generally put all damage pressure on prices? So the scarcest markets on the southern coast tend to be more affluent suburbs as well. So Lisa Heads, Newsyville, Sunshine Beach, were top of the list for me. Even though they do have a higher buy in price, they probably will have stronger capital gains over the long term.
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yep. And are yields slightly softer than than other suburbs given the capital gain?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Absolutely. So if you're an investor, looking for yield Yep. Then really expensive suburbs are generally not gonna be your your pick Yeah. Because the yields are gonna be quite low.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So capital gain is what most people will be looking for, but if you're looking for, for yield, then generally your lower priced suburbs, it's gonna be hard finding cash flow positive properties pretty much anywhere at the moment given how high mortgage rates are. Yeah. But longer term, try to find a more, I guess, balance between capital growth and yield. If you're looking for some of the the lower priced suburbs, like Tawantan would be a really good example.
Speaker 2:Some of the the best of both. Yeah. Namble? Yeah. Namble, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Local gains, maybe not, but but definitely, you know, rental yields. Rental yield. Yeah. I mean, Namble has got the benefit of a very large employment load node.
Speaker 2:You've got the train line coming through, really affordable price points, at least relatively to the rest of the Sunny Coast. So so yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay. We're heading into tips from a local. Rapid fire questions. What's your hidden local gem, your favorite restaurant?
Speaker 2:So there's so many to choose from. I love Ricky's down on Quonby Place, but, being here at Noosaville, Impey Terrace is fantastic as well. We love going to Grammy or Mashki Boy. There's a great little Vietnamese place that's opened up just recently called Stonehall.
Speaker 1:So have you been there?
Speaker 2:I love it. For for a banh mi and eat in the park across the road. Yeah. It's brilliant.
Speaker 1:Fantastic. Oh, that's a really interesting point as well. A lot of people, do eat in the park along the river here, you know, any night of the week, so it doesn't have to be expensive to have great enjoyment.
Speaker 2:Not at all. It's breakfast. Yep. They have to go down down the end of the terrace. It's fantastic.
Speaker 2:Oh, great.
Speaker 1:Do you know one of my favorites is Bandito? It's a Mexican restaurant. Yep. Yep. Highly recommend it other than the margaritas is what margaritas is great, but the food is incredible.
Speaker 1:So yeah. Okay. Favorite outdoor activity for the family?
Speaker 2:Anything on the water. Yep. Just love the water. Personally, I love fishing, so whenever the the wind is down and, I can get offshore, I will. But for the family, we yeah.
Speaker 2:We'll just jump on the boat, and we'll be in the Meeser River somewhere. Like, get down to Rivermouth and find a sandbank you can pull up onto, and, yeah, as long as, that that the weather's good, that's that's you can't beat it.
Speaker 1:Sounds like the laugh to me. Favorite place to take your wife?
Speaker 2:Yeah. We love the, there's all these little grassy knolls behind, Hastings Street on on New Smyrna Beach, and you can quite often find one all to yourself. So grassy knoll with a bottle of wine and, maybe some takeaway, get get a grilled burger or a Benny's Burgers and, even that must be in the order. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It sounds romantic, but also really affordable because people often associate, you know, Hastings Street area of, you know, that no set tax or how expensive everything is. But can you get the enjoyment at an affordable price tag?
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. You definitely don't need to be going to sales for for lunch and dinner every day. As good as it is Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. It's, yeah. Having a picnic on on the grassy knoll Yeah. Couldn't even think about it.
Speaker 1:Yep. I think even also followed up by the dog beach, watching the sunset on the dog beach.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like, my friends who just came up to visit me, they I told them to go down there, and they just thought it was magical. You know? Yeah. Great spot. It is a great spot.
Speaker 1:Okay. Favorite hinterland suburb?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I think Lake Wybhat would would top it for me. Yeah. Beautiful lake, great for sailing and windsurfing and stuff like that, some beautiful homes on acreage. Yep.
Speaker 2:But outside of Lake Whybat, you've got Timbirwa, Timbirwa, Dunan, Bundy. Yep. Plenty of options.
Speaker 1:Yep. And for people who don't know the region, Timbirwa, parts of Timbirwa are, like, 10 minutes from where we're sitting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you have an ocean view on acreage. Yeah. It's quite incredible. Yep. Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Also, my closing question, if someone is thinking of moving to the region, do you have any hot tips for them?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Definitely know what you're getting know what you're buying into. Like, this is an active market. You know, you if you're into art galleries and museums, Lisa's probably not your cup of tea, but, yeah, it's it's definitely an active market. So just understand that.
Speaker 1:So you mean active being outdoor activities and just living the outdoor lifestyle? Pretty much. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's plenty of restaurants and cafes and pubs.
Speaker 1:They're not galleries. There's a lot of art Yeah. Actually up here. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And local artists as well. Yeah. But it is a very active environment. Yeah. And I think the community is also very strong as well.
Speaker 2:So I think just getting familiar with what the area has to offer. Yeah. If that's your cup of tea, then, yeah, absolutely. Enjoy it. Now I
Speaker 1:think that's key when you are moving locations is do what you love doing, and for up here, it's normally an activity, and connect to that community, and you'll meet friends straight away. It's much easier than a capital city, I think, where everyone's busy and they can't the transport's harder. You know? Life's harder. Whereas once you sort of actually find your little tribe here, it's actually quite easy.
Speaker 1:Yeah. It's pretty laid back. Yeah. Well, thank you very much, Tim. I've loved talking to you today.
Speaker 1:Really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Thanks, Christine. It's been an absolute pleasure, and, yeah, what what a what a great spot to do a podcast.
Speaker 1:It's a pretty good place to do a podcast. Thank you.