Sydney remained the most unaffordable housing market in the country, with its median house price hitting $1.604m in May – but the Gold Coast, at $1.45m, was closing in so fast that data from the PropTrack Home Price Index for May 2026, suggested it could overtake Sydney within a year.
Sydney’s all-dwellings median were at $1.238m – which was 1.2 per cent off its February peak and still sliding, while houses hit $1.604m.
Real estate guru Tom Panos, who has watched the Gold Coast market closely for decades, told The Bulletin the data reflected a city that had undergone a seismic shift since the start of the pandemic – one most visible in Broadbeach, which had evolved from a tourist strip into one of Australia’s most coveted permanent addresses.
“Broadbeach was a more discretional place 20 years ago – it was a place people came for three to four days, they came for Magic Millions, they came for holidays, or they invested and it was a bit like the stock market – sometimes it went up, then it went down,” Mr Panos said.
“People came here for a quick flip, fake tan, a weekend away, and hoped they got photographed.
“But the Gold Coast is a different beast now – now it’s where people come to rebuild their life for 30 years.”
Mr Panos said the city’s population – nearly 30 per cent of which was born overseas and racing towards one million – now ran on an entirely different economic engine.
“This place has gone from a tourism town to a legit city.
“You’ve now got families who’ve left Melbourne, they’ve left all parts of Australia – professionals, entrepreneurs, remote workers, fitness addicts who somehow at 4.45am are smiling in their Lululemon stuff.
“You’ve got people from Sydney and Melbourne arriving like they’re refugees escaping meetings, escaping rain.
“It’s a weird area – surfboards and Acai Bowls, you walk around Broadbeach now and it’s not just tourists – it’s mums, it’s prams, it’s school pick-ups, it’s pilates at 6am, it’s construction cranes, cafes packed.
“The old Gold Coast economy relied on tourism, now it’s health, construction, professional services, entrepreneurs, and people building permanent lives in this place.”
It comes as house prices fell in half of Australia’s capital city’s – PropTrack data showed Melbourne’s house median slipped below $1 million to $995,000 in May, while Brisbane houses now cost $241,000 more than their Melbourne equivalents.
But half of Australia’s state capital cities including Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, more than doubled in value since the start of 2020.
Mr Panos said the Gold Coast was the last of the major markets to absorb the softening that had already swept through the southern capitals – but that it was now arriving.
“Sydney and Melbourne were the first to go backwards, it started happening in Brisbane a few months ago,” he said.
Mr Panos said it was important to remember that a handful of trophy sales in the luxury side of the Gold Coast market could have slightly skewed the data.
“Don’t forget they’re adding a house in Broadbeach worth $25m and a house in Labrador worth maybe less than a million – so you’re putting all that data together,” he said.
“It has gone up but when you look at it compared to other areas, you can still get reasonable value in various parts of the Gold Coast.
“It’s got something for the ultra-wealthy who want to be on the water and it’s also got something for people who want to live in Upper Coomera.”
Mr Panos said supply remained the critical factor keeping Gold Coast values elevated – and that constraints were set to worsen, with construction labour being absorbed by Brisbane 2032 Olympic projects.
“And that is why I think the Gold Coast will continue to fare better than the rest of the country.
“Building is not so easy on the Gold Coast when you’ve got all these builders getting engaged for the Olympics – so that drives labour up.”
Mr Panos said nationally, buyers had entered a period of “hesitancy”, with uncertainty over interest rates, the federal budget and proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions keeping many on the sidelines.
“We’ve already had three rate rises,” he said.
“When you put those factors together, a lot of buyers are sitting there saying: ‘We’ll just sit and wait and see what happens next,’” he said.
Mr Panos said the market would move again the moment there was more certainty internationally from Trump in regards to cutting a deal with Iran, or from Canberra’s tax changes.
“Once people have clarity, they start moving forward.”
Originally Published in the Gold Coast Bulletin by Journalist, Rosie Gale. Please see online article HERE.