The first half of the fiscal year 2021 is off to a cracking start for the local real estate market.

Despite a reduction in sales over the course of FY20, the Limestone Coast’s real estate market now faces a very different problem – a lack of property to meet the extraordinary demand for it.

Limestone Real Estate sales manager Bianca Taylor believes buyers, near and far, have finally cottoned-on to what rural escapes have to offer.

“I think the pandemic has allowed people to reassess what’s important to them – instead of travelling or doing other things with their money, they’ve decided to invest,” Ms Taylor told The SE Voice.

“They’ve also come (to the Limestone Coast) from interstate, but also people here locally have had the time to think about potentially updating from where they are currently living and upscaling their property. People are also coming home.”

Ms Taylor, who returned to real estate in January after five years managing Crown land with the Department for Environment and Water, said buyers were coming from all over Australia.

“There’s an influx of buyers at the moment and it’s very much supply and demand,” she said. “There are more purchasers than there are properties.

“In a sense, that has been great for vendors who are looking at selling because purchasers have had to fight for the property that they want, which in turn has allowed vendors to achieve a little bit higher than what they probably would have first expected, which is great.”

The same can be said for the rental market, with leases going like hotcakes.

“At one stage we had 200 applications in a week from people wanting to rent,” Ms Taylor said.

“We had an influx of people who missed out on renting a property purely because it had gone to someone else, as there were more tenants than there were available properties,” Ms Taylor said.

The federal government’s $25,000 HomeBuilder Grant is also thought to have incentivised people to build and renovate in the region.

The market turnaround comes after the Real Estate Institute of South Australia revealed Mount Gambier had recorded a reduction in sales in the year to June 2020, with a 12-month change of 3.00%.

Despite the reduction, Mount Gambier remained one of the top-selling regional suburbs for the June quarter, recording 1.76% growth during the period, according to the institute’s latest market update (to June 2020), which is based on data provided by the Valuer-General.

The results also showed the regional suburbs of Millicent, Naracoorte, Berri and Barmera, among others, had recorded reductions in sales for the year.

Both Naracoorte and Berri were, however, trending upwards for the quarter, with growth of 6.12% and 34.24% respectively.

Moreover, the regional housing market recorded a median house value of $277,500 for the year to June, which REISA said represented a “significant increase” of 2.97% from the previous quarter and an increase of 3.16% from the same quarter last year.

The institute acknowledged sales were significantly down from the previous quarter and from the same time last year, factoring in the extraordinary implications of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This is the first quarter that we are able to measure the full effects of COVID-19,” REISA president Brett Roenfeldt said at the time.

“The volume of sales is significantly down but that is to be expected with these uncertain times.

“I am delighted that the median price has actually increased from the previous quarter- this clearly demonstrates the underlying strength and resilience of the regional real estate market and the fact purchasers are willing to pay premium prices for properties that are realistically and transparently priced.”

Suburbs that recorded the largest growth over the 12 months to June 2020 included Renmark – 28.16%, Berri- 12.27% and Barmera – 11.47%.

While the top-selling suburbs in terms of recorded sales over the June quarter were Mount Gambier, Victor Harbor and Port Pirie.

The latest results for the September 2020 quarter are expected to be released in coming weeks and to contain some very good news for the Limestone Coast’s real estate market.

Ms Taylor expects the latest trend in growth to continue, telling The SE Voice “I can only speak from experience, but there are so many purchasers who have missed out on properties”.

“I think it will continue to be like this in terms of supply and demand.

But right now, I just don’t think there’s enough property to go around,” she said.