In July 2003, I came to Port Douglas as an employee with Belle Property.

I entered a property market that was booming. Record price after record price, new precedents were being set with every sale. It seemed that southern investors couldn’t get enough of Tropical North Queensland.

There was plenty of development – Sea Temple Palm Cove & Port Douglas, Peppers Beach Club Palm Cove & Port Douglas, Angsana Palm Cove and dozens of smaller boutique style complexes all selling off plan and often reselling before settlement.

In February 2005, we opened Coldwell Banker Barrier Reef Realty and experienced just over 3 years of a continuing construction boom in the Cairns region.

Piermonde, Harbour Lights, Marquis, Centrepoint, Cairns One and The Lakes were amongst the larger developments completed in this time. There were cranes everywhere (hard hats were common place in the office) and we sold plenty of property.

In late 2008 that all came to an end. During 2009 – 2011 we chased the market down not knowing how far it would fall. Buyers were thin on the ground and most properties were more challenging to sell. Sellers and Buyers rarely saw eye to eye. We experienced 10 – 40% decline across the marketplace. An exodus of the workforce saw rental vacancy skyrocket and weekly rents fall.

2012 was stable. We knew prices had pretty much bottomed out. Mortgagee sales declined and we generally knew where the market was at. Buyers and Sellers were almost on the same page. We saw an increase in activity levels as people that had just sold knew they could pretty much buy back into the same market they had just sold in.

The first half of 2013 was good. We knew something was happening but after such an extended downturn maybe we found it hard to acknowledge. On October 1, 2013 we became Belle Property Cairns and joined a network of 50 offices, giving us greater reach beyond Cairns and placing us in the best position possible for all of our clientele.

In the last quarter of 2013, in almost every sector of the residential market, everything has been selling. The flood gates opened. Maybe it is the proposed $4.2bn Aquis Casino, the aligned State & Federal Governments and low interest rates. Maybe we just needed the confidence. Whatever the reason, 2013 was one of our busiest years. Our conversations with Sellers changed from “how to sell” to “how much will we get”.

Cairns is one of the most beautiful cities in Australia. Such a unique place to live and work. At times during the last few years we wondered if it would ever find its feet again and thankfully it feels like we have.

My prediction: 2014 – 2016 will be a period of significant growth for the whole region. The property market will continue on its current trajectory of solid recovery and stock will remain tight which will cause residential developments to launch. Rents will increase significantly towards the second half of the year as some of the workforce that left Cairns in 2010/11 returns to man the boats, restaurants and building sites.

If you would ever like to discuss your property or the market in general, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0409 00 22 33.