While the area may have underperformed in recent years, one broker has predicted that the Southeast Queensland market is due for a resurgence.
Nathan Swain, CEO of Australian Property Finance, told Australian Broker the company is seeing encouraging activity through its aggregator Vow Financial's affiliation with real estate company RE/MAX.
"It's no secret that Southeast Queensland has been a bit behind in recent times compared to other markets, but we're certainly seeing a lot of good signs in terms of our activity and the numbers coming through open homes. That has a flow-on effect for our guys as well. The more people they see, the more people we see," he said.
Swain said APF recently launched a recruitment drive to onboard new brokers, and that the response has been "fantastic". He put the surge of interest down to a growing property market.
"The feedback we're getting is that the Southeast Queensland market is ripe for the picking, and partnering with a young business like ours that has the RE/MAX network would be beneficial," he said.
Swain said the Southeast Queensland market had come through a price-correction, and that buyer interest was now returning. He said many buyers have chosen to seek pre-approval through APF brokers before deciding on a property, and predicted that this will flow through to increased sales activity.
In APF's recruitment drive, Swain said the company is seeing interest from seasoned brokers who see the benefit of a referral partnership with a real estate agency.
"They might be doing $500k or $1m a month, and want to go to that next level, so that's where we can really help. There are a lot of good people out there looking for good opportunities," he said.
"I think certainly that lead generation is an issue for brokers. They can all write loans, and their skillset from a credit point of view is sound. It's just trying to generate leads and activity. A lot of people don't have that skillset."
