THERE has long been an unofficial rivalry among locals about where on the Gold Coast is the better place to live – north or south.

Places such as Burleigh Pavilion have put the Gold Coast’s southern suburbs on the national map. Picture: Jerad Williams

While both have pros and cons, depending on whether you’re a boatie or a beach body, lately the south appears to be flexing its collective muscle to show the world that anyone who is anyone should have an address south of Surfers Paradise.

The charm offensive seems to be working if you take first-quarter house price growth figures into account.

Burleigh Pavilion has become a destination in its own right.

According to CoreLogic data, nine of the ten suburbs registering the highest house price growth were in the south.

Jacob’s Well, right at the Coast’s tip, was the solitary top-ten suburb flying the price growth flag for locations in the north.

While historically, suburbs such as Mermaid Beach and Burleigh Heads generally perform well, it is surprising to see satellite southern suburbs such as Miami, Palm Beach, Currumbin Valley, Tugun and Burleigh Waters trumping their northern counterparts and registering double-digit growth.

In comparison, the waterfront suburbs of Paradise Point and Runaway Bay struggled to register a 4 per cent rise for the quarter, with Labrador on the Broadwater also hovering around the same level.

It is a lesser surprise that, of the southern suburbs, Mermaid Beach topped the list as having the highest house price growth at 12.9 per cent; it also ranked third highest in the state.

Grant Hacektt’s Mermaid beach villa at 1/100 Hedges Ave sold three weeks ahead of auction for $2.625m.

Its Millionares’ Row mansions, family-oriented feel and adversity to high-rise development keeps it in favour among those with deeper pockets.

According to Eoghan Murphy of Kollosche, who last week sold an iconic blue Hamptons home at 38 Seashell Avenue for $5.5m, Mermaid Beach will always hold its value because it is a “final destination”.

“Even though this is the best market we’ve been in for a long time, supply is really low,” Mr Murphy said.

“This is not an in-between place for people, it’s a final destination, so properties just don’t come up that often,” he said.

And when they do, they go in the blink of an eye.

Take Grant Hackett’s three-bedroom villa on Hedge’s Avenue. Five days after being listed he was made an offer he couldn’t refuse at $2.625m and it was taken off the market, three weeks ahead of auction.

Paul Gedoun’s Flow Residences in Rainbow Bay have sold out.

“If someone sells in this high market, if they aren’t downsizing, they would be hard pushed to fine somewhere else to buy in the suburb,” Mr Murphy said.

Ed Cherry of Harcourts Coastal said initiatives such as the Burleigh Pavilion and the high-profile developments in southern suburbs such as Palm Beach and Coolangatta, were helping to establish those areas as alternatives to the Coast’s more traditional hubs.

“We’ve seen a cultural shift happening. The Pavilion has made Burleigh a destination place and the suburb has become a restaurant hub for the Gold Coast now.”
He said a lot of people who would have traditionally gone to Broadbeach or Surfers were now buying in Burleigh, finding it has everything they want, including great restaurants and spas, and Byron Bay, for a spot of celebrity spotting, is a mere 50 minutes away.

The other thing drawing buyers to this side of town are Brisbane’s high-end developers, who are creating boutique lock-up and leave developments, favoured by downsizers seeking a lifestyle change without the maintenance of a large riverside mansion.

Render of the Rock Pool development proposed for 154 Marine Pde, Rainbow Bay, by Joe Adsett Architects.

“Brisbane developers and architects are stamping their mark on the Gold Coast and they are bringing Brisbane buyers with them,” Mr Cherry said.

“Joe Adsett is kicking off in Rainbow Bay with his Rock Pool development, and Paul Gedoun’s Flow Residences have sold out.

“These guys have products that work. Same as the Forme guys with Luna in Burleigh. We used to talk about $10,000 a square metre as the benchmark but in Luna, the apartments were achieving $17,000 a square metre. These guys are committed to building on the southern Coast and buyers are following them.”

Forme’s Luna development where apartments sold for $17,000 a square metre.

Mr Cherry said the same thing was happening in Palm Beach, with the raft of new developments in Jefferson Avenue, the suburb’s equivalent of Millionaires’ Row.

Katrina Walsh of Harcourts Coastal said the southern coast had been undervalued for many years but now the area was gearing up for development and redevelopment.

“Developers are scrambling for sites on the beachfront from Mermaid to Rainbow Bay. The areas have everything in terms of infrastructure with the airport and the M1 upgrade. It’s time for redevelopment in the south.”

By Lisa Hughes