Off-the-plan apartment sales on the Gold Coast are soaring to new heights despite other markets across the country continuing to fall flat. New apartment sales in the first three months of this year have jumped 45 per cent from last quarter, according to property consultant company Urbis’ latest figures.

Urbis senior consultant Lynda Campbell said the Gold Coast’s new apartments had defied the market downturn thanks to developers appealing to buyer appetite.

“Most of the developers on the Gold Coast are meeting the market,” Ms Campbell said. “The top-selling projects have been boutique and targeted at owner-occupiers and that’s what the market is looking for at the moment.”

There were 231 new apartment sales recorded from January to March with boutique-style developments most in demand. Two-bedroom, two-bathroom pads also proved to be popular, making up 65 per cent of sales. There are 2800 apartments under construction on the Glitter Strip, of which 62 per cent are earmarked for completion this year.

Ms Campbell said the Gold Coast was home to five of the top 10 best-selling projects nationwide. “The developers are doing a lot of homework and making sure what they take to the market is what the market is looking for,” she said. “It has definitely been a good start to the year.”

The report also found interstate investors held back during the first half of the year, claiming 25 per cent of sales, down from 42 per cent in the final quarter of 2018.

Foreign investors claimed almost a quarter and buyers in the box seat proved to be owner- occupiers who accounted for 43 per cent of sales.

The southern beaches precinct, which stretched from Mermaid Beach down to Tweed Heads, has experienced a boom and was home to more than 60 per cent of sales for the quarter — the highest level recorded for the area in the past five years. In the first quarter last year the stretch only accounted for 25 per cent of sales. It was also home to all of the four new projects launched across the Gold Coast.

Many developers bought land between Mermaid Beach and Tweed Heads as it offers better value compared to other blocks closer to existing infrastructure, in turn creating a product closer to the beach at a lower price point.

Source: realestate.com.au

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