Heavily discounted Hilton Surfers Paradise the only notable Gold Coast high-rise seller in November quarter: Midwood

The Gold Coast apartment market remains deeply troubled with developers reporting only 19 high-rise apartment sales over the November quarter, a 70% plunge from sales figure a year ago, according to the latest Midwood Report.

Quarterly sales figures were more than double the paltry eight sales recorded in the August quarter, but just a fraction of the 73 sales recorded in November quarter of 2011.

In total there are 705 high-rise apartments available for purchase on the Gold Coast, which at current sales rates would take close to a decade to clear.

The Midwood report classifies high-rise sales as those developments of 40 storeys and higher.

All but three of the sales over the quarter were in the Brookfield Multiplex-constructed $700 million Hilton Surfers Paradise (pictured below), following prices being reduced by up to a third.

There were no sales reported in the two other major high-rise apartments – Niecon’s Oracle and Juniper’s Soul, both of which are in the hands of receivers.

The Midwood report records just 45 total unit sales on the Gold Coast over the November quarter, compared with 107 in the corresponding quarter last year.

Putting this in context, there were 386 apartment sales recorded in Brisbane over the same period, more than three times more than the 110 apartments sold a year ago.

In the Hilton, prices ranged from $495,000 for a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment over 76 square metres to $1.63 million for a two-bedroom, two bath apartment over 118 square metres.

According to 360 Project Marketing, which is marketing the Hilton apartments, buyers have snapped up more than $15 million in apartments during the past three months, following a recent reduction in prices of up to 34%.

Marketing director Trent Milburn of 360 Project  says the new price tags have stimulated buyer activity across the board.

The project also has Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval, and Milburn says many of the buyers have come from south-east Asia.

“A month ago a foreign buyer could have purchased an apartment in the development for under $500,000, two months ago they could have bought for under $450,000 – now we’re at $525,000 and headed for $600,000.

Since January, 65 apartments have sold at prices between $435,000 and $2.3 million, with the final sub-penthouse currently on the market for $3.45 million.