Regional SA Property Market Update October 2020

By Herron Todd White
October 2020

Mount Gambier Property Update

We are currently seeing a significant increase in sales activity for vacant land in the Mount Gambier region which is primarily due to the $25,000 construction grant the government has offered. Agents are reporting that estates which typically required a number of months or often over 12 months to sell their land have either sold out or have very few vacant allotments remaining. The strong demand has led to a slight increase in land prices over this period.

House and land valuations are typically stacking up in the current environment with established houses currently seeing an increase in values which is helping support these values. On occasion, we do see extensions to established houses not being supported in the current market. The cost of the extension is often not supported by sales evidence and can be seen as an over capitalisation.

The medium-term future of vacant land and house and land markets may show some softening in prices once the construction grant has ceased. This is what was seen when the last first home builder grant went through the region a number of years ago.

Mount Gambier has typically had an oversupply of vacant land for many years and although there has been an increased number of land sales in recent months, we expect land sales to drop off significantly next year once the construction grant is no longer available. This will be watched closely over the next six to twelve months to see the impact on market levels.

Adrian Castle
Certified Practising Valuer