Welcome to the Autumn edition of our quarterly newsletter, and we have some exciting news to share with you as well as a competition!

 

New Premises:

For those who are unaware, after 35 years operating out of 36 Duke Street, we have recently relocated 40-metres closer to the beach and gone up a level – our new premises is Shop 5, 48-54 Duke Street.  With elegant interiors created by Di Henshall, very much reflective of our environment, the office is light and bright with an inviting ambience, very much in symmetry with the way we operate, our team ethos.

Our Principal Pip Covell could not be more delighted with the move and the new energy it has generated and the boost to motivation levels, with the whole team engaged and excited about their new place of work and the cleansing that a change generally brings.

“We loved where we were but it’s not until you move and settle into something new, that you realise just how good it can feel; it’s somewhat of a rebirth for us, a cleansing, a freshness and vitality that has really taken us to the next level.”

Giveaway:

To celebrate the opening of the new office they are giving away a Portable Party on Wheels, filled with refreshments.  All you have to do is follow us on Instagram @sunshinebeachrealestate, tag someone who would love this prize, and like the post. The winner will be announced on Wednesday March 20 at 5:00pm.

Market Update:

There has been an adjustment in the house market in the last 12 months, which has now brought buyers who were previously sitting on the sideline back in, as they are now seeing value and opportunity.  This renewed activity combined with a shortage of properties listed for sale, has created a favourable environment for sellers – with a lack of competition propelling an urgency to act.  As we head towards Easter and well into Autumn, this is truly an opportune time to list.

What’s On in Noosa: Autumn 2024

There’s always plenty to see and do in the Noosa Region all year around.  Some highlights over the next few months include:

• 8-17 March Noosa Festival of Surfing

• 21-24 March Noosa Ultra Trail

• 25 May Runaway Noosa Marathon 

• 30 May-2 June Noosa Eat & Drink Festival

Welcome to the Spring edition of our quarterly newsletter, before we know it, we’ll be celebrating Christmas…time certainly flies by at supersonic speed.

 

 

Market Report:

Here at Sunshine Beach Real Estate, we have been gearing up for a busy spring selling season with the onset of the warmer weather, doesn’t everyone want to secure their own slice of paradise in this most glorious seaside suburb? Well, yes, it seems they do. 

Despite the downturn in the market nationally, there is still strong demand for properties in Sunshine Beach relative to stock levels, so we are in genuine need of listings and have every confidence of securing an exceptional result for our sellers. In fact, one of our Agents, Kathy Wise, was recently quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald, speaking about the robustness of the Sunshine Beach market and the seemingly insatiable appetite from buyers to purchase here – whether buying an investment, a holiday home, or a permanent sea-change – Sunshine Beach is firmly on the national radar. 

Over the past five years to June 2022, Sunshine Beach experienced 195.5% growth, the steepest price growth in the nation, with house prices tripling – establishing itself as the first Queensland suburb with a median house price above $3M (at $3.25M). Unit prices more than doubled during this period with a rise of 127.3% to $1.5M. 

 

Community Involvement: 

Our staff live in this local community and are passionate advocates for its lifestyle benefits and are fully appreciate of its immense natural beauty – from national park to beach. We all partake regularly in community initiatives and are proud sponsors of many events. Our Principal and long-time Sunshine Beach resident, Pip Covell did her bit for the community last week and participated in Clean Up Australia Day, removing rubbish from the beach and surrounding areas. 

 

Giveaway Time:

To celebrate Spring and thank you for your support, we are running a special giveaway to our followers – a $1,000 voucher for The Alfresco Room. Follow us on Instagram to find out more, and good luck!

 

School Holidays:

Finally, for those visiting this region for the school holidays (or living here) and looking for things to do locally – we suggest you visit the 99 Ways to Noosa Guide for some great ideas.  Whatever you decide to do, stay safe and enjoy; there’s no better place to be!

Welcome to the Winter edition of our quarterly newsletter, and hasn’t it been cold! Even here in
Sunshine Beach where we generally enjoy mild, sunny winters with lovely clear skies, we have
shivered a little more this year than normal.

Market Review:
The big question you may be pondering is has the market cooled in line with the weather; well,
despite the proliferation of media reports of a softening market, and a definite reduced sense of
urgency from buyers, here at Sunshine Beach and Noosa, we are still receiving high volumes of
enquiry and securing excellent results for our sellers.

We have seen a slight drop in the volume of property sales across the Sunshine Coat region;
however, this market is still performing above average, and supply is still extremely tight, with less
than 1% of properties currently being offered to market, compared to 3-4% in a normal balanced
market. Gordon Macdonald of The Auction Group has advised he is currently experiencing a 60%
clearance rate at Auctions.

With spring just weeks away, we are expecting more stock to come onto the market – however, in the
traditionally busy selling season, there are generally more transactions also, so it may not make any
significant difference to the overall stock situation. Keeping all this in mind, we are in desperate need
for more stock in preparation of heightened demand leading into the warmer months.

Nationally in this last quarter, there have been drivers that have impacted consumer confidence –
interest rate rises, a change of government federally, rising inflation, wage pressure, general concern
about increases to the cost of living, plus the ongoing challenges of living with COVID19 which is still
very active in the community.

On a more positive note, unemployment is at almost record low levels, and with international borders
reopened, our migration program which flatlined over the past few years can now reboot and we
should see a rise in population growth, and desirable lifestyle regions such as the Sunshine Coast
with its glorious climate, stunning natural attributes, and relaxed way of life will always generate
strong demand.

New Staff:
We would like to welcome Wendy Cousins, Janine Searle, Jan Musgrave and Tessa Pettigrew to our
growing team! Wendy is Senior Property Manager and actually worked for us around 15 years ago,
and it’s wonderful to have her back. Janine is supporting Wendy as our permanent rental property
inspector. Her keen eye for detail is second to none. Jan is Weekend Reservations/Director of First
Impressions, replacing Wendy Green who retired; we are just loving having Jan on board, and so are
our clients. Tessa brings a Design Degree and property renovating experience (her latest project
being one of our beautiful holiday rental apartments) to her role as our holiday property inspector and
maintenance coordinator.

Fundraising:
Last month we again hosted Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea at Sunshine Beach Surf Life Saving
Club and raised $6,000 for the Cancer Council. Our guest speaker Wendy Barnes shared a deeply
personal story with the attendees about her own battle with breast cancer – which was both moving
and inspiring.

Well, we are well and truly into the festive season and summer is also making its presence felt…it’s
just days away now until the big man in the red suit pays a visit Down Under with its reindeers, so
don’t forget to leave out a treat, we’re told he doesn’t mind a good craft beer, apparently the reindeers
are happy with carrots.

 

Information Night: We recently hosted a successful information night with guest speaker Tim
Lawless, Head of Research at CoreLogic, which is the leading property data, information, analytics,
and services provider in Australia. Tim gave our clients and community members an insight into the
booming property market here in Sunshine Beach, confirming the key drivers have been location,
lifestyle, and the increased flexibility of the workplace, with significant volumes of people now working
from home, a trend which is expected to continue to grow even after the pandemic.

It’s still very much a sellers’ market as supply is still not in line with demand, and with borders now
opening we are expecting the market will continue to grow well throughout 2022, as buyers previously
reluctant to purchase sight unseen no longer have this issue, and international interest is also
expected to rise. We also have three exciting Auctions campaigns being launched in the New Year
which will attract a lot of attention…so watch this space!

A quick snapshot of a few statistics:

• Noosa values increased 35% and Sunshine Beach was up 40% in past year (much higher than
  national average).
• Noosa LGA is the third best performing region nationally.
• Sunshine Beach is one of the nation’s most expensive suburbs with a median value around
  $2.6 million.
• Days on market has been drastically reduced, now 20-30 days, in the past 50-60 on average.

Property Management:
Just as our sales team has been run off their feet dealing with the spike in enquiry and the interest in
the local market; so has our permanent rental team, who are flooded with people applying for the
scarce number of rental properties that hit the market. Properties are getting leased in record time,
and people are prepared to pay heightened amounts to secure a rental property; we have never seen
the rental market this tight or this competitive. If you are an investor, the yield you can achieve is at
levels that make property an even more attractive investment or alternative to stocks/shares, with
minimal risk!

Our holiday rental team likewise are also super-busy across summer, particularly on the back of
border re-openings, and we have also taken on the management of several new properties,
continuing to grow our portfolio and provide a wide range of choice. If you are looking to book a
property or own an investment property you’d like to holiday let – we would love to have a chat!
The entire team here at Sunshine Beach Real Estate, wish you all a safe and joyous Christmas and
New Year, and a prosperous, healthy 2022. We look forward to keeping in touch.

Spring Quarterly Report

Well, winter is well and truly here, and we have felt its ‘bite’ this week here on the Sunshine Coast, but despite the cooler temperatures, the heat in the market is still intense, continuing to surge from strength to strength across all sectors, particularly the Noosa prestige market.

 

 

The shortage of stock relative to demand is creating an ideal ‘selling environment’ whereby the competition is pushing up prices, often exceeding the sellers’ expectations.  Most of our listings are receiving multiple offers, resulting in achieving exceptional prices, often street records.  There has also been an increase in the number of ‘off market’ sales now transacted, with available stock so low, our Agents have a list of cashed-up buyers ready to purchase, so have been busy on the phone finding a property for them, and in most cases, they are prepared to pay what is asked to secure the deal.

We had achieved a 100% auction clearance rate over the past few months; one notable result was our auction at 9 Paul Street, Noosa Heads; a Cape Cod charmer that attracted an enormous volume of enquiry, and sold under the hammer in front of a crowd of over 50 spectators, with four competitive bidders creating a great spectacle, and a shining example of how an Auction campaign can work effectively to obtain the optimum price.

Our office has been extremely busy across sales and letting, and in fact we welcome a new property manager, Felicity, who is joining our team this month, moving up from Sydney where she was managing a large portfolio of high-end properties in the northern beaches.  We also want to acknowledge the great work of two of our sales agents, Rob Spencer and Kathy Wise, the top two performing sales agents for Sunshine Beach, according to Australia’s leading real estate portal, realestate.com.au.

All of our team live in the local area and are involved in the community, last week we hosted our Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea at the Sunshine Beach Surf Club, raising over $5,000 for the Cancer Council…it was our biggest morning tea ever!  Thank you to all who supported us and contributed to the event; and the sparkling Pacific Ocean was a stunning backdrop to a successful morning.

On a final note, it’s also worth mentioning the Noosa has been crowned the Top Tourism Town in Queensland by the Queensland Tourism Industry Council; receiving a $25,000 Strategic Consulting and Capacity Building Package supplied by EarthCheck, to help attract even more visitors to the region.

We are also excited to announce we are Bronze Corporate Sponsors for the Noosa Alive Festival running from July 15-July 24^th, and are a presenting partner of Katie Noonan’s show on Main Beach on July 18 from 12-3:30pm – a tribute to Joni Mitchell’s Landmark ‘Blue’ album, celebrating its 50^th anniversary this year.

Our next update will be in Spring, and in the meantime, we’d love to assist you with any of your property needs, we are the local experts in Sunshine Beach and have the knowledge and experience to work with you to achieve your property goals.