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Cairns property market awakes from coma - top end strongest in four years; Impetus from China is helping Cairns to reinvent itself
Topic Started: 5 Jun 2013, 10:57 AM (1,844 Views)
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Cairns market awakes from coma

June 2, 2013
Antony Lawes

Talk to real estate agents in Cairns and they'll tell you the far north Queensland tourist town is looking better than it has for years.

A pick up in international visitors, a stronger Queensland economy and low interest rates are encouraging buyers back after the woes of the global financial crisis when prices fell by 30 per cent or more.

Although agents say foreigners aren't buying houses, their money is inspiring the locals.

Australian Property Monitors data shows almost 3 per cent growth in Cairns over the March quarter.

APM senior economist Andrew Wilson says while the market is still very flat "the key thing for Cairns is the increase in the tourism industry".

"I'd say the positives outweigh the negatives at the moment," he says. "I would expect to see the Cairns housing market start to grow again this year."

Already there is more demand for rental properties. Vacancy rates are hovering just over 1 per cent, and rents are back to levels not seen since 2007, agents say.

This surge in activity hasn't led to an increase in house or apartment prices, but at least buyers are circling.

"In the deepest, darkest depths of the GFC-induced tourism coma sometimes the cheapest [prices] wouldn't even equal inquiry [from buyers]," Cairns agent Nicholas Slatyer, of Coldwell Banker, says.

"But even those listings that sat for years, that people forgot about, all of a sudden people have started ringing about them and making offers."

Apartments, generally, are proving difficult to sell, but most houses are getting offers – if not sales – within 45 days, he says.

Most interest is for properties in the $400,000 to $900,000 range. On June 15 Slatyer is auctioning a three-bedroom house in Edge Hill, one of the city's best suburbs, with a pool, large covered decks and district views.

But the upper end is where the real bargains are. And this hasn't gone unnoticed.

"There's no excuses for buyers anymore," Slatyer says. "They can't say the market hasn't bottomed out. They can't say that interest rates are high. The top end is probably the strongest it's been in four years."

Read more: http://smh.domain.com.au/real-estate-news/cairns-market-awakes-from-coma-20130602-2njjy.html
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Impetus from China is helping Cairns to reinvent itself: Terry Ryder

By Terry Ryder
Thursday, 13 June 2013

Hong Kong businessman Tony Fung is in Cairns this week to discuss with local officials and state leaders his plans for a casino-hotel complex, reportedly a $3 billion project.

Projects of that scale do not happen overnight and this one may not happen at all. But it says something about the re-emergence of Cairns that such ventures are being discussed.

There’s no doubt Cairns is fighting back after a long period as the almost-forgotten city of North Queensland. Local leaders are working hard to encourage development and diversify the city’s economy, for too long too dependent on tourism.

Just how tough the past five years have been in Cairns real estate is illustrated by figures in the March quarter report from the Real Estate Institute of Queensland. The median house price for Cairns today is 6% lower than it was five years ago. The median price for apartments is 23% lower than in 2008. Ouch.

I know people who own investment property in Cairns and “ouch” doesn’t really do justice to their feelings about the place.

The city’s recent performance is a million light years from the glory days of the 1980s, when Cairns and the tropical north was the trendiest place in Australia to build tourism-related property developments. Tourists and investors from Japan fuelled the boom.

But building an economy based on tourism is like building an edifice on sand dunes. Tourism is very cyclical and highly vulnerable to economic downturns, at home and abroad.

In the past 20 years, Cairns has been overtaken and left behind by Townsville, which has a highly-diversified regional economy in which tourism is just one element.

Now Cairns is reinventing itself. Tourism is still big and it’s coming strong again, with major investment not far behind. This time the impetus is coming from China. Two of the biggest Chinese airlines have recently begun direct flights into Cairns, complementing the ones coming regularly from Hong Kong, Singapore, Osaka and Tokyo.

But civic leaders are working to broaden the base. The local council is seeking to inspire construction by waiving some of the big fees that deter developers. The council says 24 projects worth $400 million are happening as a result.

In terms of infrastructure, always a big generator of real estate growth, $450 million is being spent on upgrading the hospital, $110 million on expanding the port and potentially $1 billion on redeveloping the airport (in a 20-year plan approved by the state government in March).

There is also a growing resources sector within commuting distance of Cairns. An April report said the Far North’s mining industry had surpassed $1 billion a year in earnings for the first time and now ranked behind tourism and primary industries as the region’s third biggest generator of wealth.

Against this background we are seeing the first signs of real estate revival. The number of sales, for both houses and units, in the March quarter was a big increase on the levels of a year earlier and some suburbs now have median prices higher than a year ago.

Valuation firm Herron Todd White says in the June edition of The Month in Review: “Some lead sections of the market, such as the more popular inner suburbs, are already in recovery. The more widespread recovery appears to be imminent … and there are good prospects and opportunities for buyers with a 4-6-year time frame in mind.”

Read more: http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/residential/impetus-from-china-is-helping-cairns-to-reinvent-itself-terry-ryder-hotspotting/2013061262196
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Catweasel
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Catweasel say wow.

3 the billion casino. Who needs a mining?

Emotions high in a Cairns.
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Cairns property market poised for recovery in houses

By Alistair Walsh
Monday, 07 October 2013

A number of property analysts say the Cairns property market is on the verge of a recovery, but mainly for houses.

Property prices in the far north Queensland town suffered greatly during the global financial crisis but it may be about to spring back.

“The Cairns market is improving. Once again detached housing very much so, with units there isn't much improvement there. It’s much more investor driven and run by employment,” Tim Lawless says.

“Cairns is benefiting from more air travel coming in from China which is having a real impact on the local economy but values are still a lot lower than 2007. It will take a long time.”

Herron Todd White say the market there is nudging close to a recovery but there are still low priced opportunities to be found.

“Pockets of low priced housing exist in a number of suburbs, but the traditionally cheaper areas are Manoora, Woree, White Rock and the lower parts of Mooroobool,” Herron Todd White’s latest monthly report says.

“House prices in these areas tend to start at around $200,000 and show median prices of around $270,000. Also worthy of consideration are Manunda, Bungalow and Westcourt, which are in a better ranked socio-economic stratum but still show median prices sub $300,000.

“The unit market is showing large numbers of properties for sale and units have become extremely difficult to sell unless at bargain basement prices.”

Buyers agent Rich Harvey says investors are still slightly.

“I have put a couple of clients into the Cairns market many years ago, and it's coming back on a few peoples radar but it's very tourism reliant. There's a bit of agriculture, but it's not as diverse as Townsville. Townsville has defence, education, mining and agriculture.”

Data from the REIQ released on September 6 shows house prices remained unchanged for the year ending June 2013 across the Cairns LGA. Over the quarter house prices fell 2.6%.

But certain suburbs have performed quite well. House prices in Clifton Beach rose 18.5% over the year, 10.3% in Gordonvale and 9.7% in Smithfield.

Over the quarter Mount Sheridan was the strongest performer, followed by Bentley Park at 9.4% followed by Bayview Heights at 8.7%.

The unit market didn’t perform quite so well with prices fall 9.3% for the year across Cairns and 10% over the past quarter.

Manoora and Trinity Beach were the only unit markets to increase in value over the quarter, going up 9.4% and 5.1% respectively. Compare that to Cairns City where prices fell 38.1%.

The current median house price in Clifton Beach is $523,000.

A four bedroom home with a swimming pool at 5 Spur Close is listed for sale at $509,000. It’s been on the market for more than a year. In 2005 it sold for $385,000, according to RP Data.

A five-bedroom home with an even bigger pool at 50 Endeavour Road is on the market for $530,000. In 2005 it was on the market, but didn’t sell, for $420,000, according to RP Data.

Read more: http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/queensland/cairns-property-market-poised-for-recovery-in-houses/2013100465506
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Billy Jack
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The Duke of Brisbane Town

Now that's real funny there friends.

Cairns overtaken by Townsville? Sure, if you think that a jewel can be overtaken by a gemstone.

Townsville is ghetto.
Tell Billy Jack the Truth
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