More and more Gold Coasters are being squeezed out of the housing market as prices continue to surge thanks to a lack of supply and soaring construction costs.
Prices on the Gold Coast rose another 3.13% in the December quarter, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.
That takes the annual increase to 9.57%, with a median sale price of $1.26 million last year.
The Gold Coast saw the second-highest number of house sales in the last three months of last year, with 2,015 sales.
Unit prices on the Gold Coast had an even stronger end to 2025, with an increase of 6.53% in the December quarter.
Prices were up 9.64% for the year, with a median sale price of $830,000.
It comes as the Gold Coast overtakes Brisbane for the number of cranes in the sky as construction surges across the city.
But REIQ CEO Antonia Mercorella warns we still face a significant shortfall.
“We’re still not building at the scale and speed we need to relieve the supply squeeze, and with every quarterly target not met, we’re falling further behind,” Ms Mercorella said.
“Under the National Housing Accord set from mid-2024, Queensland needs to build just over 49,000 new dwellings each year over five years; however, over each of the last four quarters (data to September 2025), only about 34,000 new dwellings were completed.”
There has also been a drop in building approvals, with only 3,600 in January.
Experts warn we need closer to 4,100 each month.
“The properties we do have in the pipeline are heavily skewed towards high-end product – such as luxury apartments – due to high construction costs influencing feasibility,” Ms Mercorella said.
“The established housing market is still drip-feeding properties for sale but remains restricted as property owners hold on tight to their homes.”
Figures also show the number of listings falling by 15% across regional Queensland in December.
Properties that do come onto the market are also being snapped up quickly, with houses on the Gold Coast only spending an average of 23 days on the market, while units are being sold in an average of 25 days.
“These persistent supply pressures are what’s underpinning property price growth, along with ongoing demand-side factors such as high interstate migration, expected strong population growth, and rental market strain seeing tenants transition to home ownership.”
