City buyers flock to regional Queensland

According to Ray White Rural Dayboro/Eumundi selling principal Vicki Pain, the Queensland office had great success with rural farm and lifestyle property “Rural Runs” over the past two years – a testament to the rising activity in regional markets.

“COVID has really changed our market, and we have had a large increase in buyers looking in both the Sunshine Coast and Brisbane hinterland at properties.”

Ms Pain said that enquiries and bids were not only coming from local and interstate, but also from buyers abroad.

“From the start, the enquiries have come from local, Western Australia, western NSW and western Queensland buyers, while registered bidders on our auctions have come from as far as America and Singapore. We also received enquiries from the UK, producing multiple offers on properties and continued auction sales success.”

Rural and lifestyle properties in Queensland vary, as do the needs of the buyers looking for a lifestyle change, according to her.

Ms Pain described today’s buyers as looking for family opportunities to raise their children in a more rural area, with appreciation of fresh, homegrown fruit and vegetables from their own backyard.

Further, there has also been an influx of professional couples and southern buyers who want to escape the city and the lockdown or possible lockdown situation, she said.

According to Ray White Rural Dayboro/Eumundi’s principal: “The ability to work from home has also opened our properties to more buyers as they don’t have to commute to the city every day.”

“As for southern buyers, we hear them say, ‘once we get out of lockdown, we just want to move to the Sunshine Coast’. They are often initially unfamiliar with the Dayboro, Ocean View and Mount Mee areas, but we have been able to open up our Brisbane hinterland market to more of these types of buyers.”

Among the expected standouts in this year’s “Rural Run” are Rush Creek, Wamuran, Campbells Pocket, Tuchekoi and Ocean View.