Whitsunday Property Market Update 1st Half of 2023
In Q4 2022, Whitsundays, which in this report encapsulates postcode 4802, recorded a median house price of $657,500 and a median unit price of $325,000. Annually (Q4 2021 – Q4 2022) median price grew by 20.6% for houses and softened by -3.0% for units. On a quarter-by-quarter basis (Q3 – Q4 2022) median house price grew at a slower rate of 7.3% and median unit price softened even more, at -5.8%. This is a reflection of increasing cash rates and higher market uncertainty, even in a market where the number of sales has continued to decline. There are now new opportunities for buyers.
Average vendor discounts between Q4 2021 and Q4 2022 have remained relatively stable for both property types, to discounts of -1.3% for houses and -3.0% for units. Market conditions in Whitsundays are continuing to favour buyers, as vendors are still willing to accept below the initial listing price. Now is the time to buy.
House rental yields in Whitsundays was 6.2% in December 2022, on par with Queensland North Coast however much higher than Brisbane Metro. Median house rental price increased by 35.1% in the 12 months to Q4 2022, to $750 per week, whilst the number of houses rented declined by -31.3%. That said, median house rental price grew by a slower rate, by 15.4% in the past 6 months to Q4 2022. This suggests a potentially steadier rental market compared to 24 months prior.
4+ bedroom houses have provided investors with +25.0% rental growth annually, achieving a median rent of $750 per week.
Whitsundays recorded a vacancy rate of 0.7% in December 2022, which is below Whitsunday LGA’s 1.2% and North Coast’s 1.3% average. Vacancy rates in Whitsundays saw a slight uptick towards the end of 2022, which may explain the lower increase in median house rental price. However, vacancy rates are still well below the 3.0% healthy benchmark set by the Real Estate Institute of Australia, thus indicating a conducive environment for investors.
