PROPERTY MARKET UPDATE: Noosa vs Surfers Paradise

Does Surfers Paradise or Noosa take out the top spot as the best beachside 'burb? Sydney continues its price growth and overseas buyers gain interest in the Aussie market again. 

Continuing on the summer theme of favourite beachside areas, let’s take a look at two Queensland favourites; Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast and Noosa on the Sunshine Coast.

From a data perspective, Gold Coast is the most fascinating region in Australia. It sees the most unique search behaviour and is highly diverse in terms of demand. Putting that bias aside, how does Surfers Paradise compare to Noosa on other measures?

The view from the apartment at 6/5 Hasings St, Noosa Heads. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

  • Melbourne people love Noosa, Sydney people love both Noosa and Surfers Paradise: Melburnians just aren’t as keen on the Gold Coast as Sydneysiders. 62% of interstate search on the Gold Coast is coming from Sydney and just 28% is coming from Melbourne. This compares to the Sunshine Coast, which is roughly similar for both Melbourne and Sydney (45% from Sydney, 40% from Melbourne).
  • Overseas property seekers love Surfers Paradise: Hardly anyone from overseas is searching for property on the Sunshine Coast. But Gold Coast, and Surfers Paradise in particular, regularly appear in the Top 10 for people searching from the US, New Zealand, Philippines, Canada, Thailand, Japan, South Korea and Vietnam.

  • Surfers Paradise is more expensive for houses while Noosa is more expensive for apartments: The Surfers Paradise median for houses is around $300k more than Noosa. Apartments in Noosa however are far more expensive – more than double those in Surfers Paradise. This also flows through to rentals, although the differential for rent is far less. Longer term, Gold Coast housing will be more expensive than Sunshine Coast and land supply on the Gold Coast is far more limited.

  • Houses in Surfers Paradise have been seeing very strong growth: Price growth in many $1 million plus suburbs on the Gold Coast have been similar to what we have seen in the Sydney $2 million plus market. Perhaps driven in part at least by all the Sydney interest in this market. House price growth in Noosa however has been flat while apartments in both Noosa and Surfers Paradise have also seen very little movement.

  • Rental growth has been minimal overall but rent for houses in Surfers Paradise have dropped a lot: There’s nothing much exciting happening with rental growth in either markets. A relatively good supply of housing in both regions appears to be keeping rents pretty flat however Surfers Paradise houses have seen quite a big decline.

  • Yields are highest for Surfers Paradise apartments: Our data on rental yields show that they are particularly high for Surfers Paradise apartments (over 6%). Second highest are Noosa apartments (over 4%).

  • Noosa sees far more buyer demand overall than Surfers Paradise: Very high levels of stock significantly pulls down views per listing in Surfers Paradise. Overall, Noosa sees more than double the views per listing compared to Surfers Paradise when looking for properties to buy.

  • Noosa sees more rental demand, but the gap is smaller than buyer demand: Both Noosa and Surfers Paradise are popular with renters, but Noosa sees slightly higher views per listing.

Which is better – Noosa or Surfers Paradise? Ultimately it does depend on whether you like more action. Surfers Paradise is in close proximity to theme parks and a more active night life. Noosa is more laid back.

With small children, Noosa possibly holds more appeal while for teenagers who want to party, Surfers Paradise is probably more fun. If you want somewhere less busy, Noosa is your best bet. Gold Coast attracts far more people from around Australia and the world. The fact that Melbourne people love Noosa so much more than Surfers Paradise is probably the most stark difference.

Source: https://www.realestate.com.au/news/property-market-update-noosa-vs-surfers-paradise/?fbclid=IwAR2-7F4r9lachgdROGTVIXkBJa8t0rQX6EJXS-pXhenW8ByJQmCwjx0tMTQ