Previously, investor demand had been very much focused on inner-city areas of our major capital cities and popular holiday destination, such as the Gold Coast or our very own Sunshine Coast.
But with many changes in the property market, economy and closed international borders because of Covid-19, there were dramatic shifts in the locations where investors were interested.
Monthly email enquiries from buyers who identify themselves as investors on realestate.com.au have revealed some dramatic changes in the locations of interest between January 2020 and January 2021.
Coastal suburbs such as Surfers Paradise, Mooloolaba, Maroochydore, Port Macquarie and Noosa Heads remained popular over the year and saw increased enquiry, while investor interest in inner-city markets waned.
In January 2021, Surfers Paradise kept its number one ranking, with enquiry volumes up 28%. Mooloolaba (+56%), Maroochydore (+58%), Port Macquarie (+91%) and Noosa Heads (+82%) also saw jumps in enquiry.
Top 20 regions for investor enquiry
Source: realestate.com.au
Note: based on email enquiries from investors (self-declared) sent to agents from realestate.com.au. Data reflects number of emails in Jan’21 and Jan’20. Regions as defined by the ABS’ SA4 standards.
So the question remains, has investors mindset changed for good? At least for the time being, investor preferences are changing. While typically investors have favoured coastal markets with larger populations and higher-density capital city areas, these capital city areas are losing their popularity and regional areas are increasingly being preferred.