Buderim is the sleeping giant of Sunshine Coast real estate, but may not be for long, one of the region’s property experts advises.
Ray White Maroochydore director and auctioneer Dan Sowden said that while beach areas seemed to be the flavour of the month with regard to sales and record house prices, the mountain village and surrounds appeared to be undervalued.
Mr Sowden said home owners and investors were paying $900,000 to $1,100,000 for land near the surf, and homes selling for $2-3 million were common close to beachside suburbs, but these were usually smaller blocks under 600sqm.
“The compromise is land size. And I think that that’s why Buderim is the sleeping giant because it is probably still today heavily undervalued based on what it’s offering,” he said.
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“There’s been a few now of these larger prestige sales and I feel that it could be at a wonderful tipping point where people should be considering (Buderim).
“They should be looking at it and they should be confident that just like the beach prices have surged, Buderim has the ability to do that as well.”
He said median sale prices in suburbs such as Maroochydore and Mooloolaba had been rising in the 20% range per year, whereas Buderim was closer to 10-12%, with “little activity north of $3 million”.
However, Mr Sowden, who heads a team of more than over 35 local property professionals specialising in residential sales, property management, projects and finance in an office established the area since 1999, said recent multi-million-dollar sales in Buderim pointed to a slow “awakening”.
That was evident in the recent sale at auction of 10 Ryhope St for $3.5m: a 0.6ha property with a northern aspect.
It was bought by long-established Buderim residents who had moved out of the area but now wanted to return to the leafy village atmosphere.
“(The property) offers this wonderful combination between beautiful northerly views and flat, usable land,” Mr Sowden said.
“That’s normally the main compromise that buyers have to make: they say. ‘I love the views so I’m going to sacrifice the use of the land because I’m going to buy on the escarpment slope’.
“Or they say, ‘I’m going to live on top of Buderim but I want a flat block, so therefore I need to compromise on the view’.
“It’s these unique properties that offer the best of both worlds – that is where there’s going to be some real price growth at that prestige end.
“There are certain streets in Buderim and certain properties that are very, very unique.
“And owners or people who know Buderim well realise that value.
“The funny thing with Buderim is that it’s the largest suburb, really, by way of geography and it’s the largest suburb by way of numbers of properties.
“Sometimes from a reporting perspective that maybe dulls down some of the true niche stories of the suburb.
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“When you look at those very special streets on top of Buderim where you gather in a beautiful aspect, you’re looking north, that’s a very, very insular niche market.
“There’s only probably a couple of dozen properties in that space that all those locals know about and they’re the ones that, when they come on (the market), they are met with really good interest and they can’t recreate those.”
Sunshine Coast locals – and Buderim residents in particular – were leading the charge in buying these properties, rather than southerners seeking to escape COVID-19 lockdowns.
Mr Sowden said Buderim had very much been the domain of baby boomers over the past 15 to 20 years.
In that time, young families which were unable to buy into the market on top of the mountain instead secured properties in the surrounding areas.
Now, they were seeking to literally move up in the world, buying further up the slopes, and reigniting the values in Buderim.
Another recent property on the market at 25 Orme Rd on more than 1000sqm was sold for $4.2m to Buderim locals wanting to upgrade from their current property to another one offering panoramic views.
Buderim House, which was purchased almost a year ago, sold to a Buderim family seeking a more prominent location.
While Sydney and Melbourne were making inquiries and taking part in bidding on Buderim properties, Mr Sowden said they had not been able to finish on top of recent negotiations and secure the sale in many cases. But that won’t always be the case.
“A million dollars now, as crazy as that sounds, doesn’t get you what it would have got you three months ago, let alone three years ago.
“That’s typical, though, because a Sydney buyer who comes to the Coast and spends $1m here spends it knowing that $1m in Sydney buys you maybe a 50sqm apartment in Bondi without a car park.
“They’ve looked at our lifestyle and said, ‘Wow! Well, this lifestyle is unattainable’, so they come here and enjoy it.”
What Mr Sowden is really excited about is that those buying into Buderim in that $3-4m range are still prepared to continue to invest in the property and improve its value.
“What that will do is, that will actually create some beautiful signature homes and perhaps refurbished homes that are maybe 20 to 30 years of age and bring them into that new, modern format,” he said.
“They will actually be really attractive to those that are maybe coming from down south.
“So I do expect that Sydney and Melbourne buyers coming to the area, coming to Buderim, buying 650sqm homes on big, beautiful parcels of land with great views and certainly spending $4-6m or even higher will become more common than perhaps what it is today.”
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Mr Sowden likened Buderim to Brisbane’s prestigious suburbs such as Ascot and Hamilton, which also offered large allotments and a wide range of housing options from classic, sprawling Queenslanders to contemporary builds.
“At the moment, there’s been obviously a tremendous surge of inquiry of people wanting to be beside the beach, for example.
“Those beachside locations have been really, really popular but I think the one thing that the families will start to understand is that when you’re buying a home on 500 or 600sqm of land, over time and as kids get older, they’re going to want more space.
“You might find that as the kids start going to high school – maybe to private schools in Buderim – that might cause the family then to say. ‘Hey, we’ve got a young family today but we’re starting to grow. We’re going to be bursting at the seams soon so maybe we’ll want that little bit of extra land size’.
“And that’s where I see Buderim’s going to have its own place and its own opportunity.”
