Regional Opportunities for Buyers

Regional Opportunities for Buyers

Buyers have been taking advantage of opportunities to purchase development sites in parts of regional Queensland despite some challenging economic conditions, according to Ray White Special Projects (Qld).

Andrew Burke of Ray White Special Projects (Qld) said there had been a significant number of transactions for residential site sales in regional areas over the past 18 months.

“There have been some challenging market conditions in regional locations over that period but some astute investors have been aware of that and have still been active in the market,” Andrew Burke said.

“Although much of the market commentary focuses on South East Queensland, we have seen some solid market activity outside of SEQ in regional Queensland and Northern NSW.

“Several development sites have sold in and around coastal areas such as Yeppoon and Gladstone as well as Gympie. We have sold several properties in the Wide Bay region in the last few months, all provide opportunity for future land subdivisions.”

Andrew Burke said in many regional centres there is an oversupply of residential development sites, often leading to a softening in prices.

“Those locations where most employment is generated from the resource, and/or resource service sector, have been particularly oversupplied,” he said.

“What is important for purchasers is the rate of sale for developed product, and the ability to respond to market conditions quickly is dependent upon having development approvals in place.

“Due to the enormous time and cost associated in site assessment, buyers in the market currently find it essential to gauge vendor motivation and how genuine the sellers are in achieving an outcome to be in line with existing market conditions.

“Opportunistic counter cyclical purchasers are taking a medium view to develop when conditions improve or just land banking and selling with capital gain when local market conditions rise again.”