Gold Coast new apartment sales reach a new high as the third quarter cracks previous annual record

New apartment sales on the Gold Coast have cracked an all-time high well before the year has ended, officially making 2021 the hottest market since property consultancy Urbis began monitoring the sector.

The number of apartment sales for the September quarter surged to 690, bringing the total of new apartments sold on the Gold Coast in the first nine months of this year to 1,882.

This figure has already eclipsed the previous full-year record of 1,556 sales in 2016.

The apartment buying spree has also led to a record low supply of apartments, according to the Urbis Apartment Essentials report.

Based on the September sales rate, only 2.2 months’ supply of new apartments remain available on the market should no new projects be released. This is the lowest supply level ever recorded by Urbis for the Gold Coast and is down from 4.2 months’ supply recorded in the June quarter.

“From a statistical perspective, the Gold Coast apartment market has entered new territory,” said Urbis senior consultant Lynda Campbell.

“Record high demand is meeting record low supply, which has led to the most acute shortage of new apartments ever experienced on the Gold Coast.”

Just 517 apartments remained for sale at the end of September, down from 624 at the end of June. These figures compare to 2,594 at the end of June 2018.

More than half of these, 335, were located in the Gold Coast Central precinct, comprising Labrador, Southport, Main Beach, Surfers Paradise and Broadbeach. However, the Southern Beaches from Mermaid Beach to Tweed Heads had the lowest supply with just 45 apartments.

“We have never seen a market as tight as this since we started keeping track of demand for new apartments at the end of 2013,” said Ms Campbell.

“Sales in the third quarter picked up significantly compared to the June quarter, although they were slightly lower than the record first quarter when we saw 742 sales.

“All Gold Coast precincts are in major undersupply, and some areas will remain so despite a number of big projects in the wings expected to be launched over the next three to nine months.”

According to Urbis, nine new projects comprising 774 apartments were launched in the September quarter, with two of these selling out within the three months. They were among 16 projects that sold out during the quarter.

In a clear sign of diminishing supply, Urbis is now monitoring 59 new developments across the Gold Coast, down from a high of 84 in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Owner-occupiers continue to account for the majority of sales, totalling 61 per cent in the September quarter.

The weighted average sale price in the third quarter eased to $883,478, slightly down from the $1 million-plus figures of the first two quarters of this year as sales increased in the more affordable precincts of Coastal Fringe and North Shore.

“The market has been dominated by smaller-scale projects with larger apartments and higher price points over the last two years,” said Ms Campbell.

“However, this could be about to change with several large-scale projects close to launching with a different product offering to meet demand.”