A landlord from St George has been fielding renters' calls from places as far flung as Katherine, a Burnett woman sold her house in 10 days, and a real estate agent from Emerald sold a house over a video call to a Brisbane buyer.
The housing market in regional Queensland is certainly on fire right now, with low interest rates, high household savings, federal home buying incentives and interstate migration pushing prices upward.
In a report released by CoreLogic today, dwellings (houses, units) in regional Queensland jumped 22.2 per cent to $468,287 in the past year. According to their August figures, rent climbed 14.2pc annually to $442 a week.
However, it's not all bad news, with the income needed to service a mortgage at decade lows.
South Burnett resident Larissa Kerkow was surprised by the swift pace of the market in her area.
Ms Kerkow built a house at Wondai in 2012 and when she recently listed it for sale, it was snapped up in 10 days.
"The couple [who purchased it] were the third lot of people to inspect it. There was a bit of back and forth negotiation and it was a done deal," Ms Kerkow said.
With SQM Research showing a 0 per cent vacancy rate for Wandai in August, Ms Kerkow said renters were having a tough time finding a place.
"I know it's very hard to come by a rental [in Wondai]. They get snapped up very quickly. People having a vacant property is just not a thing."
Empty one day, full the next
St George residents Jim Salmon and Colleen Dunn own several rental properties on the Darling Downs and have seen a big turnaround in the market.
"It's only been in the last 18 months or so that things have turned around. We're finally getting more people into town," Mr Salmon said.
"As soon as there's word there is a place that's vacant, you've got a number of people looking to rent."
Over the course of 14 years, the couple have bought and renovated modest houses in their hometown, in Goondiwindi and in Cecil Plains.
Mr Salmon said following the 2012 St George floods, an influx of repair workers reduced vacancies and drove up rent, but with a dry spell and the workers leaving town in 2015, the market dropped right off.
"All those workers left town and it left a big vacuum," Mr Salmon said.
"It didn't rain much after June 2012, so with the workers gone and everything dry, the place was bloody ordinary," Mr Salmon said.
Mr Salmon said one of their St George rentals sat vacant for 18 months.
The vacancy rate in St George peaked in September 2015 at 8.5pc, according to SQM.
When they listed their latest vacant St George house, they were getting calls from rental hopefuls in Katherine, Winton and Airlie Beach.
"The enquiries we were getting are from all over the place, whereas a couple of years ago it was only locals.
"I've had a place out at Goondiwindi and nothing happened there for 12 to 18 months and then bang, I got an enquiry.
"They live just outside of Canberra and wanted to be closer to their grandkids in Mackay, but it had to be over the border so they weren't locked down in New South Wales. They're in the process of signing contracts now."
The vacancy rate in St George is now at 0.4pc.
Emerald market shining
Ray White Emerald principal Paul Muldrew said the majority of homebuyers and renters in his area were locals, with a few exceptions.
"The residential market is mainly locals or people relocating to the area, but I did sell a house sight unseen just via a video call from a purchaser from Brisbane - they've never been here before and just wanted to get out of the rat race," Mr Muldrew said.
Mr Muldrew said business was strong in the Emerald region, with the pandemic not impacting their industry.
"COVID hasn't affected us too much in the property market; if anything, we've had a really good year," he said.
While house prices are more consistent across the board, rental vacancies are at one per cent, increasing prices.
"There's not a lot of choice out there for people wanting to rent at the moment, so that's driving the prices up a little bit," he said.
"We're seeing properties selling at all kinds of prices - the cheaper properties up to $200,000, the $200,000 to $450,000 mark, and then even in the higher end. We've had a couple of $800-900,000 and even over $1 million sales as well."
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Regions outpace capital
House price and rent increases in regional Queensland have even outstripped Greater Brisbane, where dwelling prices went up 19.9pc in a year to $625,291.
In just the last quarter, regional dwellings rose in value by 5pc.
The state's regional dwellings are also getting snapped up faster compared to June-August last year, sitting on the market for an average of 34 days, down from 53 days.
While CoreLogic's regional data does include locations like the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, dwelling values in the outback alone have risen 19.8pc in a year (in the 12 months to August).
Central Queensland has seen home price increases of 13.7pc annually, while Darling Downs and Maranoa hit 12.9pc (12 months to August).
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owens said there were broad drivers that had pushed up house prices nationally, but Queensland price rises were somewhat unique to the state.
"Queensland is unique in that unlike other states and territories, the loss of overseas migration has been partially offset by high levels of internal migration," Ms Owens said.
"Queensland has been a state with positive net internal migration for years, but it seems interstate migration flows to the sunshine state have been exacerbated by COVID-19, with a notable 30pc uplift in migration to the state from Melbourne between March 2021 and March 2020."
The researcher said housing affordability depended on a combination of property prices, incomes and interest rates, and for regional Queenslanders already in the market, the outlook was positive.
"Over the decade, serviceability of a mortgage has improved across regional Queensland over time, falling from 41pc of income required to service a mortgage in March 2011, to just 29pc of income in March 2021 as interest rates have fallen over time.
"However, over the past year in particular, many parts of Queensland have seen rapid price growth, which means purchasing has become harder for first home buyers in particular, who tend to be more price-sensitive buyers."
Ms Owens said they were seeing some limit to the growth cycle in regional Queensland, where monthly dwelling value increases had slowed slightly.
She said any change to lending conditions would likely see a decline in housing and rent values across Queensland.
Across some of the more remote areas of the state, rental vacancies are low: Longreach is at 0.3pc vacancy, Dalby is 0.4pc, Goondiwindi is 0.5pc, Charleville is 0.5pc, Roma and Blackall are 0.8pc and Mount Isa is 0.9pc.
Bargain hunting
One of the cheapest houses for sale in regional Queensland is in Cunnamulla for $25,000. However, the three bedroom, one bathroom home requires a full renovation.
For those who want to skip the work and buy a move-in ready house suitable for the average-sized family (two parents, two children), one of the cheapest on the market is an $80,000 Augathella residence. It's a three bed, one bath, two-car house set on a 1012 sq m block.
People looking for something left of field can pick up a former Presbyterian Church in Surat for $75,000.
Set on a spacious 2023 sq m block, the building comes with high ceilings, polished timber floors, kitchenette, steel stumps and religious iconography on the walls.
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