Cairns bucks national property downturn as capitals hit the wall

Cairns pulled off positive monthly, quarterly and annual growth – an increasingly rare feat as major capitals experience a property price downturn. Picture: Brendan Radke Cairns is a rare bright spot, bucking a nationwide property downturn that’s dragged Brisbane and the Gold Coast into their first quarterly home price falls in years. The new realestate.com.au Home Price Report, out Tuesday, found Cairns stood apart – pulling off positive monthly growth of 0.35 per cent, quarterly growth of 0.03 per cent and an annual surge of 10.13 per cent across all dwellings. The median price has now hit $673,000, realestate.com.au senior economist Eleanor Creagh told The Cairns Post, with the area expected to continue to see strong demand. Realestate.com.au senior economist Eleanor Creagh She said tight listing environments and strong demand were shielding the region from severe interest rate headwinds that were now ravaging southern capitals. “The outperformance reflects continued strength of conditions across more affordable regional markets – certainly relatively affordable compared with the major east coast capitals.” This comes as revised figures show Brisbane copped its fifth consecutive...