Eagleby has changed dramatically since Covid, local agents say, becoming a hotspot for first home buyers and those priced out of the Gold Coast.
Stephanie Gilbert from Harcourts Property Centre said Eagleby recorded remarkable growth over the last four years.
“At the start of the year, I think we saw pricing increase by something crazy like $15-20 thousand a month – it was moving quite quickly,” she said.
Some reports showed the suburb’s prices grew by more than 20% in just six months, which Ms Gilbert said was “insane for one suburb.”
She said that, while the market was now slowing down due to the proximity of Christmas, it could pick up again once interest rates decrease.
Another local sales agent, Benjamin Waite from LJ Hooker Beenleigh, agreed.
“Depending on what you read and what you listen to, [a rates drop] might be the middle of next year,” he said.
He said current demand outweighed supply, with stock down 18% compared to the same time last year.
Ms Gilbert said the market was changing weekly, with some properties selling surprisingly quickly and others taking longer than expected.
“All the development – the new highway coming into Eagleby, the upgraded train station in Beenleigh – is only going to drive these suburbs even more,” she said.
“Will it happen to all of Logan? Who knows.”
Mr Waite said the stigma attached to Eagleby was no longer accurate.
“Historically it is a lower socio-economic area,” he said.
“We had a good 10-15 years with zero capital growth, and there is a number of reasons for that.”
He said property prices were once so low in the suburb, and rental yields so high, that investors were taking over the market.
“Typically, capital growth comes from an owner-occupier led market, so when you’ve got no owner occupiers buying in a market, it depresses the property prices.
“Owner occupiers will get emotive about a purchase, then they will compete against each other and that is where price growth comes from.”
According to Mr Wait, that all changed during Covid.
“Prices were rapidly increasing in the Brisbane and Gold Coast markets, and it forced a lot of people to look a little further out.
“And it fell on Eagleby, which was the last affordable pocket on the east side of the highway.
“Which is why it is a little bit more attractive than Beenleigh, Edens Landing and Waterford – because it is on the east side.”
Mr Waite’s own observations suggest the suburb is comprised mostly of owner occupiers, with a 70-30 split, forcing the lower socioeconomic renters out west.
“The demographic is now that of north Gold Coast, those who has been priced out of that market – think Ormeau, Helensvale.
“They have spent a little more money renovating their homes, streets are looking a little nicer, rents have increased.”
He predicts the growth in Eagleby will continue.
