Gold Coast’s Prestige Home Prices Surge by 20pc

The Gold Coast’s luxury home market has continued to outperform all other major Australian cities with prices expected to jump by another 10 per cent this year, according to Knight Frank research.

The Gold Coast, now one of the country’s fastest-growing regions, has been awash with rich buyers during the past 12 months, fuelling a sharp rise in prime residential prices.

The coastal city experienced median price increases of almost 60 per cent across some suburbs last year, creating a cascading effect across neighbouring areas.

According to Knight Frank’s Prime International Residential Index, the Gold Coast has now shot from 12th position to seventh after a 3.1 per cent spurt in the last quarter.

The city overtook Sydney in February as the country’s best performing prime market after clocking 19.3 per cent growth during the past 12 months.

Sydney’s prime luxury home prices grew by 16 per cent, Brisbane rose by 11.3 per cent, while Perth and Melbourne were up by 11 per cent and 10.9 per cent respectively in the past year.

Supporting the surge in prime real estate has been the growth in the population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals—those with a net worth of $40 million or more.

Over 2021, Australia's ultra-high-net-worth individuals population grew by 10 per cent to 20,800 people, above the global average.

Knight Frank head of residential research Michelle Ciesielski said the demand for luxury homes would probably rise further this year as the population of ultra-rich is predicted to swell.

“Rather than ‘steady and sustainable’ growth, it’s fair to say the growth in the last year was ‘stellar and spectacular’ in the prime residential market,” Ciesielski said.

“The high demand for luxury homes has seen a literal race for space, with ultra-wealthy Australian buyers competing for large waterfront plots, and large apartments with roof terrace, balcony or outdoor space.” 

Prime global cities index Q1 2022 (ranked by annual % change)

Buyers swooped on the luxury property sector, particularly in suburbs such as Miami, where house prices shot beyond 44 per cent to $1.2 million over the past 12 months, and Mermaid Waters, which has lifted by 41.9 per cent to a $1.2-million median.

In neighbouring Mermaid Beach, a colossal 32.4 per cent hike sent house prices to a historic $2.07 million median.

With more demand than supply, Knight Frank is now expecting predicted Gold Coast prestige property prices to increase by 8 per cent this year, Sydney by 9 per cent and Melbourne by 7 per cent.

“There is now widespread concern as new homes have generally been shrinking in size over recent years and with significant lags in construction coupled with supply chain issues, it’s going to take some time to deliver,” Ciesielski said.

“This will only generate a premium on large luxury homes for some time to come.”

Around the world, the top city for prestige price growth was Dubai, where prices skyrocketed 58.9 per cent in the 12 months to March.

It was followed by Miami, up 33.1 per cent, Toronto, up 24 per cent, San Francisco, up 23.4 per cent and Los Angeles, which lifted by 22.8 per cent.

Prime prices in two of the world’s largest residential markets, London and New York, have also continued to shake off political uncertainty and tax changes with their prime markets rising at their fastest rates in the past seven and six years respectively. 

The biggest slowdowns over the past quarter were across the Asia Pacific. Wellington, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenzhen saw their annual rates of growth slide by 17 per cent, 15 per cent, 8 per cent and 7 per cent respectively over the first three months of the year.