Cairns May 2018

The month in review: Cairns

By Herron Todd White
May 2018

In the current market climate, the prestige housing sector in Cairns starts at about $750,000, with a super prestige sector cutting in at about $1.5 million.

• Beachfront houses along the Northern Beaches
• Homes in the more elevated areas of suburbs such as Edge Hill, Whitfield, Mooroobool, Earlville and Bayview Heights
• Some acreage properties in the Northern Beaches suburbs such as Kewarra Beach
• A small number of penthouse and sub-penthouse apartments in areas such as the CBD, Palm Cove and Trinity Beach.

Houses in the $750,000 plus category are thinly traded. There were only 138 house sales in Cairns priced at $750,000 or more during 2017, compared to 137 in 2016. These compare to total market sales of approximately 2,400 houses each year in those two years. Of the 138 house sales during 2017, ten were priced at $1.5 million or more. There were also 22 apartment sales over $750,000 during 2017, of which one came in at above $1.5 million.

Conditions in the prestige sector have been slow for some time, but properties are nevertheless starting to turn over again as the market rebuilds. We expect the market to continue improving during 2018 as local economic conditions rebound, though lagging the market in general due to the shortage of buyers with the resources to participate in this sector. Around the Cairns region there are also small pockets of prestige housing located in Port Douglas, especially on Wharf Street and Flagstaff Hill, and some in Mission Beach.