Analysis of the Top End in the Cairns Marketplace

In their national monthly review Herron Todd White have analysed the premium end of the market in all metropolitan and regional areas. Their Cairns branch have offered the following summary of just how this sector appears to be operating in the current real estate climate:-

The Cairns upper property market is thinly traded but we would define it as anything above $1 million. This sector would contain:

• Houses with beach or marina frontage on the Northern Beaches;
• some high quality acreage properties on the Northern Beaches;
• elevated houses with panoramic views in suburbs such as Edge Hill, Whitfield, Brinsmead or upper Mooroobool;
• penthouse apartments in the CBD, beachfront and/or waterfront unit developments.

The Cairns upper property market, like the market in general, remains slow. So far this year, there have been 11 property sales at $1 million or more, compared with 30 such sales in 2010 and 54 in the 2007 heyday in the market. The 11 properties sold so far this year have been a variety: one was on the beachfront, three were panoramic, two were on acreage, three had marina frontage, and two were CBD apartments. Most have sold at hefty discounts on their asking prices, and often after extended selling periods. Sample sales from 2011 include:

• A CBD penthouse apartment, originally listed at $1.3 million in November 2010, sold for $1.075 million in April 2011;
• an acreage property at Kewarra Beach, originally listed at $1.395 million in May 2011, sold for $1.05 million in July 2011;
• a panoramic property at Brinsmead, originally listed at $1.45 million in April 2010, sold for $1.018 million in April 2011.

Two of the most highly prized properties in Cairns are also currently on the market. One is a beachfront property at Kewarra Beach, purchased for $5.5 million in 2006 and being sold in receivership, and the other a trophy property owned by a local entrepreneur in financial difficulty high above Earlville. Both these properties are seriously on the market after failing to sell at recent auction.

Iconic Kewarra Street beachfront mansion currently for sale

So how do you sell a million dollar plus property right now in Cairns? Easily, if you want to sell it for $700,000! Otherwise to sell a $1 million plus property in the current Cairns market environment it needs to be PERFECT in every way. It needs to be perfect in terms of attributes and location and absolutely immaculate in presentation.

Herron Todd White is Australia's largest Independent Property Advisory group with 58 offices throughout Australia. Their Cairns branch has a wealth of experience in providing valuation services across the commercial, industrial, rural and residential property sectors.

View Herron Todd White's national monthly market review HERE

Peter Musso - Ray White Cairns Beaches - Real estate agent selling property in Trinity Beach, Kewarra Beach, Clifton Beach, Palm Cove, Trinity Park, Smithfield, Yorkeys Knob, Holloways Beach, Machans Beach