Gladstone's housing market in recovery

Gladstone's housing market is starting to recover, according to valuation firm Herron Todd White (HTW).

They say the prestige market sector in Gladstone is very thinly traded.

At the end of 2018 Herron Todd White said the landscape of the Gladstone property market has changed dramatically in five short years.

During the boom, the market was dominated by investors trying to cash in on the hype that surrounded Gladstone, it advised.

"Value levels and rents were the highest Gladstone had ever seen, vacancy rates were essentially 0%, motels were running at 150% occupancy," the report said.

"Fast forward five years and the property market could not be more different!"

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HTW suggest you would be hard pressed to find a property owner who has not suffered some sort of loss in the past few years.

"On the other hand, the buyer’s market we currently find ourselves in has attracted many different types of home owners to the market," it said.

"The affordability of property in Gladstone has turned us from one of the most expensive places to live in the state to one of the cheapest.

"Value levels have not been this low for nearly two decades.

"We have seen a large contingent of first home owners enter the market."

First home buyers appear more active in the sub $400,000 market for both existing and newly constructed homes, however if purchasing existing homes they are generally looking to buy at a lower price point, it said.

Herron Todd White consider that the prestige sector starts at around the $700,000 mark.

There has been only one sale above this mark in the past six months—a dwelling in an established area of New Auckland sold for $720,000 in January (top and below).

The five bedroom home has three bathrooms and a swimming pool.

Prior to this, there were several large rural residential properties that sold in 2016 for above $850,000.

The last million dollar plus home sold in Gladstone in 2015.

Just like the rest of the market, the prestige sector has seen sharp declines in value over the past several years. Most buyers in this sector are locals who are upgrading.

Rents in the area are also low, according to Investar, the property investment insights company.

Half-way through last year Investar pegged the median rent price at West Gladstone at $130 a week, the cheapest in Queensland.

Analysis from CoreLogic's head of research Cameron Kusher found Gladstone prices had well and truly bottomed over the last few years.

He found that with 578 sales over the 12 month period from May 2016 saw 578 sales at a median price of $323,875 in Gladstone.

Those sales volumes are 68 percent lower than their July 2007 peak, while median prices are 32 percent low than their September 2012 peak.