The month in review: Toowoomba

By Herron Todd White
October, 2009

We have not seen any of our market segments in Toowoomba fall in value over the past 12 months. Property volumes and values below $350,000 in the past 6 months have improved and we did expect to see a rippling affect following into the $350,000 to $500,000 price bracket; this however has been slow to start. We have seen some softening in values over $500,000. This has mainly been due to the extended selling periods required to achieve a sale. Having said this, some agents are recently reporting good open house inspection numbers on prestige auction property indicating a possible turn around.

There are no individual suburbs which can be identified as being under performers. However there have been some individual cases of large modern product above $500,000 in new suburbs selling for less than originally purchased, but are few and far between. One example was a modern house in Rangeville which recently sold for $550,000 after a 9 month marketing campaign and was originally purchased in 2006 for $591,000.

Individual property which appeared to have the largest falls in value could have possibly been new product which was poorly maintained or not finished and sold without completing the driveway, landscaping or fencing. The under performers more recently are busy localities such as feeder roads and school/sporting drop off zones but property in Toowoomba generally has been underpinned by limited supply and vacant land availablity.

In contrast, suburbs such as Highfields, Cabarlah, and Meringandan have gone from strength to strength which has been underpinned from the two major shopping centres based at Highfields. Building works in these areas have also been exacerbated by the lack of affordable vacant land in Toowoomba and will probably improve even more so once a secondary school is built.

Please note that information in this publication is subject to change without notice. Smartline assumes no responsibility for any errors, omissions or mistakes in this document. © 2008 Smartline Home Loans P/L. ABN 38 085 370 270