Interstate buyers still make moves

INTERNATIONAL buyers are taking up all the headlines but it’s interstate buyers who are currently making some of the biggest moves.

Local buyers have accounted for 86 per cent of all Ray White auction buyers - a number that has begun to rise over the past month. However, interstate buyers still make up 11 per cent of all the group’s auction buyers. The number has trended down slightly over the past two weeks - perhaps as restrictions end and life in major capital cities returns to a semblance of pre-pandemic normal.

Notably, the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Canberra and regional Australia are still seeing more than their fair share of the interstate buyer pool. Almost 30 per cent of all Ray White auction buyers on the Gold Coast have been from interstate, while in Brisbane that number is 16 per cent. In the regions, 20 per cent of all auction buyers for the group have been from interstate and Canberra has had another 15 per cent buy across the border since the beginning of the year.

Queensland has been the top choice for many interstate buyers since last year and even with major flooding across south-east Queensland, it still hasn’t stopped the market.

Ray White Marsden principal Avi Khan said even on Sunday, at the height of the “rain bomb” event, he was still receiving calls from sellers wanting to list their homes.

“This is the new normal and I think with everything that’s happened over the past two years and all the predictions last year that the market was going to drop, everyone is so battle weary by now. If they need to buy or sell, they will despite what’s happening,” Mr Khan said.

“Even at the start of this week, we’ve been so busy. That’s the new world we live in, people just want to get on with life and they can’t keep waiting for everything to go back to how it was.”

The auction market also didn’t suffer in south-east Queensland despite the rain hovering over the normally sunny state. Ray White Burleigh Group agent Travis Miller sold 21/90 Marine Pde, Miami for $1.85 million - to a buyer from Bondi Beach who plans to update it to become a holiday home or their future residence.

Looking at this week, the Ray White Group has 614 auctions scheduled including 355 this Saturday. Ray White Sydney has 179 auctions booked, while Ray White Melbourne has another 160. In Brisbane, the Ray White Group has 63 auctions scheduled and Ray White Adelaide has 52 auctions.

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