There are always plenty of people willing to offer an opinion on the property market, and of course, there’s nothing like a sensational headline about impending doom to get people talking.
Most recently dire warnings about an imminent slump in the Sydney and Melbourne property sectors had a few people on edge. However, more discerning investors saw those claims for what they were, and to coin a recently well-worn phrase – fake news.
As far as I’m concerned, the evidence indicates nothing more than a cyclical slowing in those markets.
For those who have interest in Sunshine Coast property, I understand there is a natural inclination to look to the southern states for emerging trends, but it’s not always a case of ‘when Sydney sneezes, we catch the cold’. In my opinion, our current and future prospects, couldn’t be further from the truth.
Any downturn in the south is good news for Queensland and particularly, here on the Sunshine Coast.
Think of it as a northern migration, where investors can get more bang for their buck, while our evolving ‘smart region’ benefits from the intellectual property those investors bring in addition to bricks and mortar development.
Looking ahead, the Sunshine Coast is set for conservative growth – nothing sensational about that – just an honest to goodness healthy property market supported by strong employment and sound investment in infrastructure.
These include our new international airport; installation of the high-speed submarine cable that will connect us to Asia and the United States by 2020; the new SunCentral CBD and Sunshine Coast Hospital Health Precinct; and our growing University.
As a region we now have a stable and sophisticated economy, which I believe will provide a safety net for the Coast should there be a cyclical national property downturn.
I feel confident that investors, as well as mum and dad home buyers (especially those migrating from Sydney and Melbourne in search of value for money property), will continue to be attracted to the Sunshine Coast.
The Sunshine Coast property market is solid, and this is the combined effects of having close proximity to Brisbane’s influences; the raft of high value infrastructure projects I mentioned earlier and others to come; and a self-sustaining balance of population with a robust local economy.
For us here on the Sunshine Coast, maintaining affordability is a key planning consideration that will ensure we don’t catch the ‘Sydney cold’ of largely unattainable property prices.
With this firmly top of mind for our decision makers, I feel certain that the future of the Sunshine Coast future has never been brighter.