Mackay Property Market Update 1st Half of 2020

In Q1 2020, Mackay recorded a median house price of $335,000, and a median unit price of $230,000. This represents annual (Q1 2019 – Q1 2020) median price growth of 1.5% for houses and a softening of -3.2% for units. Between Q1 2019 – Q1 2020 total sales increased, by 13.2% for houses (to 60 sales), and by 50.0% for units (to 24 sales). The Mackay property market shows signs of resilience through capital growth and increase in demand over the past 12 months, there are opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

Average vendor discounting between Q1 2019 and Q1 2020 has tightened to -3.4% (houses) and widened for units to -9.2%. Market conditions in Mackay offer unique opportunities to both buyers and sellers. House sellers can achieve final sale prices closer to their first list price, whilst unit buyers can benefit from a discount.

House rental yields in Mackay were recorded at a heathy 5.3% in December 2019, performing above the wider Mackay LGA (4.5%) and Brisbane Metro (3.9%). The house rental market is in a strong healthy position, particularly when combined with the increased rental demand over the past 12 months to Q1 2020, up by 12.7%.    

4+ bedroom houses provided investors with +10.0% rental growth annually, achieving a median rent of $440 per week.

Mackay recorded a vacancy rate of 1.9% in December 2019. This represents a healthy indicator, remaining well below the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s healthy benchmark of 3.0%. Furthermore, Mackay recorded vacancy rates well below that of Brisbane Metro of 2.9%. This confirms there is a healthy rental demand in Mackay, which is good news for investors looking for a more affordable investment option outside of Brisbane Metro.