Wealthy Russian overseas property investors have been attracted to the Australian Gold Coast and are now the biggest spenders of Australian Gold Coast property. The average investment is a hefty USD$ 550,000 according to research undertaken by property agency DTZ.
The Gold Coast has been voted in the top 10 growth spots in Australia and the median property prices are expected to jump from $425,000 – $625,000 by 2010. Gold Coast is the third largest film production center in Australia and Warner Brothers has a major studio just outside Gold Coast City. Housing is often located along canals and inland waterways that have been built and dredged just for that purpose
The Russian interest in Gold Coast real estate has been unsolicited, DTZ project market director Paul Barnett says. “Nobody has gone out to get it. It’s come largely to us online.” Barnett is understandably enthusiastic about the Russians. “These are lifestyle-driven people from a drab environment with enormous amounts of dough they want to invest in large chunks. They flit around the world picking out prime real estate in attractive places like the Spanish Mediterranean coast or here on the Gold Coast.
Russians spent more than the average investor, according to DTZ, with their individual purchases averaging $550,000, compared to other foreign investors’ average of $220,000.
There were much bigger buys, including multi-million-dollar penthouses in developer Stockland’s Allisee project on the broadwater at the northern end of the Gold Coast.
Foreign buyers spent a total of $558 million on Queensland residential property in 2006-07, says DTZ, whose survey on foreign ownership is confined to Queensland.
