“We’re seeing empty nesters (in places like Shorncliffe) still staying in the family home,” she said.
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“And community plays into that … these are the places that could have been popular with young families about 10 to 15 years ago because they were cheap but have now become more expensive.
″What we often see in the long term is that some suburbs (with a low turnover) aren’t even the most expensive, but they have a big population of people born overseas.
“And when it comes to the migrant communities in Australia, that’s where they like to settle because that’s where their people are.”
Longtime Sandgate local Jacqui McKeering, of Jim McKeering Real Estate, said in their patch, residents indeed never left, with community and exclusivity a big reason for the suburb and neighbouring Shorncliffe seeing low turnover rates. In Sandgate, the turnover rate was 3.3 per cent over the past year.
“Sandgate is a unique suburb because it’s by the bay and there are not many houses in the area and Shorncliffe’s the same,” she said.
“We’re bound by sea and the highway, and we’re not a sprawling suburb, so there’s nowhere for people to move. If they want to stay in the area, they can’t downsize, and as a result, our unit sales are quite high.”
McKeering collected a new record unit price of $930,000 in Sandgate for a three-bedroom abode at 2/30 Second Avenue in March and said the airtight stock levels meant even simple six-pack units now fetched upwards of $650,000.
“There are only 134 units in Sandgate, and only a handful have lifts,” she said.
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“But Sandgate has such a strong sense of community and homeliness that people just don’t want to leave.
“What’s unique here is there’s a sense of modesty across the whole suburb. Everyone and anyone can go to the yacht club, and it’s open and friendly.”
McKeering said the flipside to that was rising prices and a tight rental market, with some of the longtime older locals who were still in the rental market being pushed out.
In Shorncliffe, she said, just 15 sales transacted over the past 12 months, down 33.2 per cent annually.
Over in Inala, One Agency’s Cooper Swift said the Vietnamese community had played no small part in building a tight-knit neighbourhood that many homeowners never left. But that sense of exclusivity had fuelled a surge in price growth which recently kickstarted a flurry of listings.
“A lot of owners have seen big prices being achieved … so stock levels are actually pretty good now,” he said.
“We just sold a home at 50 Sittella Street near the Inala Plaza for $702,500, which was a street record. The owners had been there 60 years, and that home was full of asbestos.”
Inala’s median house price has soared 68.5 per cent in five years to reach $615,000 over the 12 months to March, on Domain data, but Swift said buyers would be lucky now to find options under $650,000.
”It’s a big Vietnamese community here and while they are still the main demographic of buyers we are starting to see more buyers from outside that community. People are realising Inala isn’t that bad,” Swift said.
“And people come here from out of suburb just for the food.”
