MERMAID Beach has long held the title as the Gold Coast’s most expensive suburb, but a new contender is hot on its heels.
Bilinga joined the Coast’s million-dollar club in November and has been close to surpassing Mermaid Beach’s median house price for months.
CoreLogic data to December showed there was only a $50,000 difference between the two, which stretched to $85,000 in January.
Mermaid Beach’s median soared to $1.5 million last year, which marked a record for the Gold Coast, but it has since gradually declined to $1.385 million while Bilinga’s has rocketed to $1.3 million.
REIQ Gold Coast zone chairman Andrew Henderson (pictured) believed Mermaid Beach would always reign supreme but said there was merit in Bilinga’s increased popularity.
“It’s obviously heating up the competition between the two but whether it will pass (Mermaid Beach), I can’t see that happening,” he said.
“But as new houses get built and more people appeal to the area … I think that (Bilinga) could be held in high esteem.
“Bilinga for a long time was probably under valued.”
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He said the suburb’s proximity to the Gold Coast Airport and popular surf breaks made it particularly appealing.
The median house prices are based on 66 sales in Mermaid Beach over the past year and 16 in Bilinga, which suggested a few million-dollar sales were skewing the figures.
Mr Henderson believed that once the data to the start of April was revealed, it would paint a different picture as there had been a number of million-dollar sales at Mermaid Beach during that period.
Ray White Mermaid Beach agent Troy Dowker, who has sold several multimillion-dollar properties at Bilinga over the past year, backed Mr Henderson’s comments.
He said when Bilinga’s prestige market dried up, the median would drop back.
DJ Stringer Property Services principal David Stringer said houses in the area were already highly sought-after while five to seven-storey height limits meant new boutique beachfront developments were also on offer.