“We're seeing empty nesters (in places like Shorncliffe) still staying in the family home,” he said.
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“And the community is playing into it … these are the places that might have been popular with young families about 10 or 15 years ago because they were cheap, but now they've become more expensive.
″What we often see over the long term is that some suburbs (with low turnover) are not even the most expensive, but have a large population of foreign-born people.
“And when it comes to migrant communities in Australia, that's where they like to settle because that's where their people are.”
Sandgate local Jacqui McKeering of Jim McKeering Real Estate said in her patch that residents never left, and the community and exclusivity is a big reason the suburb and neighboring Shorncliffe see low turnover rates . At Sandgate, the turnover rate was 3.3% over the past year.
“Sandgate is a unique suburb because it's by the bay and there aren't many houses in the area and Shorncliffe is the same,” he said.
“We're bound by the sea and the freeway, and we're not a sprawling suburb, so there's nowhere for people to move. If they want to stay in the area, they can't downsize, and so , our unit sales are quite high”.
McKeering collected a new record unit price of $930,000 in Sandgate for a three-bedroom residence at 2/30 Second Avenue in March and said tight stock levels meant that even simple six-bedroom units packages now reach more than $650,000.
“There are only 134 units in Sandgate and only a handful have lifts,” he said.
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“But Sandgate has such a strong sense of community and familiarity that people just don't want to leave.
“What's unique here is that there's a sense of modesty throughout the suburb. Anyone and everyone can go to the yacht club, and it's open and friendly.”
McKeering said the flip side of this was rising prices and a tight rental market, with some of the larger premises still on the rental market.
In Shorncliffe, he said, just 15 sales had taken place over the past 12 months, down 33.2% year-on-year.
In Inala, One Agency's Cooper Swift said the Vietnamese community had played no small role in building a tight-knit neighborhood that many homeowners never left. But that sense of exclusivity had fueled a surge in price growth that recently fueled a glut of listings.
“A lot of owners have seen great prices being achieved … so stock levels are actually quite good now,” he said.
“We just sold a house at 50 Sittella Street near Inala Square for $702,500, which was a street record. The owners had been there for 60 years and that house was full of asbestos.”
Inala's median house price has soared 68.5 percent in five years to $615,000 in the 12 months to March, according to domain data, but Swift said buyers would have good luck finding options under $650,000.
“It's a big Vietnamese community here, and while they're still the main buyer demographic, we're starting to see more buyers from outside that community. People are realizing that Inala isn't so bad,” Swift said .
“And people come here from out of town just to eat.”
