PROPERTY hotspots may be few and far between in flat markets, but they can still be found, even if some are off the beaten track.

From North Stadbroke Island’s little-known Dunwich to the equally obscure twin West Australian towns of Dongara and Port Denison, near Geraldton, property prices continue to head north, driven either by babyboomers and retirees looking for their seachange, or workers attracted by the resources boom.

In stark contrast to capital-city property markets, where even real estate agents expect a flat year, small pockets of housing across the nation are booming.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia claims last year’s moderate growth in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra, and Hobart has already started to slow in most cities except Hobart, but prices in places such as Victoria’s San Remo are heading in the opposite direction.

Located at the gateway to Victoria’s Phillip Island, San Remo’s median house price jumped 19.4 per cent from $335,000 to $400,000 in the 12 months to last September because of seachangers unable to afford more expensive Mornington Peninsula seaside homes.

Across the Nullabor, Perth’s housing boom may be over, but at Dongara and Port Denison a mix of cashed-up miners and retirees is driving up prices.

Nestled on Western Australia’s Coral Coast about 360km north of Perth and 60km south of Geraldton, Port Denison and Dongara have become the preferred location for the region’s fly-in, fly-out mining workforce.

At the same time, mine workers from other parts of Western Australia, including the Pilbara, have set their hearts on the Coral Coast and are buying ahead of retirement.

That resulted in a 29.4 per cent rise in median house prices, to $349,000, in the 12 months to September last year.

Rising prices are riding on more than $6 billion of resource and associated infrastructure development earmarked for the region over the next five years.

Ticor’s Eneabba mineral sands mine is only 80km away, and now there are plans for a major new mine only 25km from the twin towns.

The Gold Coast market is expected to have a reasonable first quarter after good buyer interest during the holidays, but Queensland’s hotspots are elsewhere, at Stradbroke Island and progressively north: Hervey Bay and Yeppoon. At Dunwich, one of the three main townships on North Stradbroke Island, house prices rose 37.4 per cent in the 12 months to September, to a new median of $395,000.

Dunwich is the most affordable of the island’s three towns, with Point Lookout having a median price of $930,000 and Amity Point $475,000.

Stradbroke is only an hour from Brisbane, positioning it well for a large holiday market which, according to PRDnationwide Research, should keep property values strong as well as providing an excellent long-term investment.

A 25.4 per rise in the 12 months to September took the median price of homes at Dundowran Beach, in the northern suburbs of Hervey Bay, to more than $473,000.

Prices at nearby Toogoom rose 13.4 per cent to almost $329,000, while at Barrum Heads they were up 3.7 per cent to $350,000.

Further north at Yeppoon the September median house price of $315,000 was some $30,000 higher than a year earlier.

New resident Dan Reid moved his family from Melbourne’s Coburg to find affordable housing.

The house, he says, is worth about $25,000 more than he paid in September.

Economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel predicts that towns in north Queensland will be among the best performers of 2007 due to employment growth and very tight rental markets. At the bottom end of Australia, Tasmania’s Orford has gone from quiet country town to property hotspot because of a $130 million Greg Norman golfing estate development. Tassie’s largest construction project, it is being developed by Melbourne’s Bayport Group.

About 330 house blocks are yet to go on sale, but with every likelihood that the development, known as Solis, will attract retirees and seachangers from the mainland, PRDnationwide Research rates Orford highly.

“The Solis development should introduce a variety of amenities and services to the Orford region, attracting both overseas and national investment, residential and tourist growth and future development,” PRDnationwide franchise research manager Jonathon Rivera says.

“The combination of such elements should make Orford and the surrounding area one of Tasmania’s hotspots in coming years.”

In the absence of reliable sales data, what is known about Orford is mostly anecdotal, but according to local agents the boom is still in its infancy, with plenty of homes selling for less than $300,000.

In the nation’s capitals, the Real Estate Institute of Australia predicts a slowdown in demand that should limit 2007 price growth.

With Perth off the boil, the REIA believes Darwin has the strongest prospects for price growth, still driven by the commodities boom and demand for modern housing.

Despite the housing sector’s woes, REIA President Graham Joyce tells The Weekend Australian that tight rental markets across Australia remain good news for investors seeking quality long-term investments rather than short-term capital growth.

“The 2007 property market is likely to offer opportunities for long-term investors, particularly in locations such as Sydney, where prices are moving downwards,” he says.

Sydney real estate agent John McGrath is more optimistic about the city’s short-term outlook.

McGrath says 2007 will be a turning point for residential property, with all the signs in place for a market recovery — low vacancies, rising rents and the return of investors.

He says “upgraders” will continue to buy quality family homes, sometimes within days of them going on the market, and a substantial wave of “downsizers” will continue buying and selling.

Buyers are starting to realise the market has shifted, and potential interest rate hikes are the only barrier to price rises, McGrath says.

His agents have noted an increase in expat inquiries since October last year.

That has been strongest in lifestyle locations such as the eastern and northern beaches, and in family suburbs on Sydney’s lower north shore such as Mosman, Lane Cove and Longueville.

“Most of these buyers are not planning to return to Australia for another year or so,” he says.

“But they’re recognising that now is the time to buy their future family home in Sydney or on the Central Coast.

“We are dealing mainly with young couples and families currently working in places like the US, China, Singapore, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Africa and Europe.”

He expects demand to pick up for two-bedroom apartments within 15km of the CBD.

Meanwhile, a partly built project in Regent Place has breathed new life into the listless Sydney CBD apartment market. Frasers Property recorded its strongest sales of 2006 in December, exchanging contracts for 16 apartments at its Lumiere Residence project, worth $20 million, with the highest price $2.3 million. Buyers have been from Britain, Ireland and Canada, as well as Australia.

Designed by internationally acclaimed English architects Foster and Partners and due for completion early next year, the complex includes a glass-bottomed swimming pool.

Project sales manager Adam Sparkes says December’s sales have continued into January, with Frasers taking deposits on a further 13 apartments.

“The old days of shutting the display centre between Christmas and Australia Day are long gone,” he says.

Source:
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