HOME, CHEAP HOME: The suburbs where prices have dropped by half

Would that be 50%? longweekend

Wait another year and you'll pick up a bargain, back to pre-boom prices.
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HOME prices have been slashed almost in half in some parts of Australia, with vendors forced into heavy discounting as properties languish for months in a skittish market.

Luxury suburbs, coastal strips and flood regions have been hardest hit as median values plummeted by up to 46 per cent in 2011, according to RP Data figures.

Even Australia’s most expensive suburb Point Piper has fallen victim to the squeeze, with the median price of units sliding 37 per cent to $1.17 million.

Vendors were also forced to cut prices by almost a quarter in premium postcodes including Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast and Western Australia’s millionaire’s row Peppermint Grove.

Scroll down for top 10 worst hit areas

RP Data senior research analyst Cameron Kusher said buyers were still smarting from the 2008 global financial crisis, with share market hits and other personal financial losses weighing heavily on wealthy Australians and retirees.

“Since the GFC people aren’t moving around as much to those once popular sea change and tree change areas,” Mr Kusher said. “They’ve lost a lot of money and are rebuilding their wealth.”

The areas with the top 10 price falls of the year feature four tree and sea change spots including Mittagong in the New South Wales Southern Highlands and Golden Beach in Queensland.

But it is homeowners in flood-affected North Booval – a suburb of Ipswich near Brisbane – who have suffered the country’s worst falls, with houses dropping by 46.3 per cent to $154,000.

Mr Kusher conceded some homes in Ipswich’s flood-hit areas were unsaleable but said buyers had “short memories” when it came to natural disasters.

“If you cut the price enough, any property will sell and if it doesn’t flood for another five years buying activity will return to those areas,” he said.

While prices dipped in the towns affected by the Victoria bushfires and Cyclone Larry in North Queensland, sales volume and prices picked up within 12 months, he said.

Mr Kusher said property prices had also been reined-in by slower interstate migration, particularly in Queensland, NSW and Victoria.

However, Australian Property Monitors senior economist Dr Andrew Wilson said in the capital cities the property gloom was lifting.

Dr Wilson pointed to higher auction clearance rates, and an improvement in finance commitments, particularly in Queensland, NSW and WA.

“Perth and Brisbane remain on track for a recovery in median house prices this year with healthy increases in buyer activity from the low levels of 2011,” he said.

“Sydney and Canberra should provide the usual solid results over the year reflecting the chronic underlying shortage of accommodation in those centres.”

He believes buyers may remain cautious in Melbourne – with the local economy set to struggle in 2012 - while sales are expected to lift in Adelaide.

Although somewhat volatile, Darwin should also finish 2012 with encouraging housing market results, Dr Wilson says.

Resources would continue to help some regions – particularly in central Queensland.

“The Gold Coast may also surprise while Newcastle and Orange in New South Wales and the Macedon Ranges region of Victoria should continue to attract significant buyer interest.

Top 10 median price drops in percentage terms for 2011

1. North Booval (QLD) -46.3% (houses) to $154,000
2. Mittaggong (NSW) -45.1% (units) to $225,000
3. Joliment (WA) -44.4% (units) to $342,000
4. Carey Bay (NSW) -42.6% (houses) to $266,001
5. St Kilda West (VIC) -41.8% (houses) to $1,455,000
6. Port Augusta (SA) -41.5% (units) to $120,000
7. Golden Beach (QLD) -40.9% (houses) to $85,750
8. Rainbow Beach (QLD) -40.8% (units) to $219,750
9. Acacia Ridge (QLD) -40.8% (units) to $298,500
10. Eagle Farm (QLD) -40.4% (units) to $786,500

http://www.news.com.au/money/property/property-prices-battered-in-parts-of-austr...

Did anyone see 4 corners last night ?

It's what happened in Ireland during the GFC when the property bubble burst spectacularly.

For example there was a 55 bedroom beach side hotel that went for 650,000 Euros at auction with only two bidders

I can just hear Lisa and madweekend still telling us that Australia is different LOL

Longweekend,
I don't pay rent - I own my place.
You lose again.

Now apologise.

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Mar 13^th, 2012 at 9:01am:



This is terrible news, I think we should all take pansi, nail and bobby's advice and go into a sh1t panic, sell our houses, empty our bank accounts and hide in our closets, because this is the worse financial news I have ever heard.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 13^th, 2012 at 10:36am:


madweekend should appologise to Steve Keen who said that house prices could fall by up to 40% !! Steve Keen's prediction has now been vindicated

I am sure Pansi and Lastnail will be popping champagne.

Nothing like seeing ordinary families go under to please this pair.

In the last 2 years you have spent money on rent which has helped someone to pay off for an asset and you have nothing to show for it.

In the last 2 years, I have paid off a mortgage with my redundancy payment and now own an asset in Australia worth over $1m which is also getting me rent revenue.

My parents have 4 properties which they own outright and which have appreciated in value.

Mate, you'll excuse me for thinking your advice is a crock of sh*t.
I am a battler yet have done perfectly well in the housing market.

Sir lastnail wrote on Mar 13^th, 2012 at 10:57am:


if you are that stupid to say that because a handful of houses dropped significantly that there has bene a price crash then you deserve all the mocking you get.

you morons come on here repeatedly telling us first that housing is going to crash and now that it has crashed and you are even stupid enough to quote people that say the very opposite.

you trully are dumb as a bag of hammers, living in rented accomodation....

losers.