Gold Coast Buyers Guide 2026

Making sure your finances are ready is extremely important when purchasing a property on the Gold Coast. With the market moving fast it is important to have all your ducks in a row before you submit any offers.

We recommend sitting down with your preferred finance broker and working through your options and identifying your budget and preferred purchase price. A position of pre-approval is seen as a position of strength in the Gold Coast market.

If you are bidding on a house at auction you must be aware of the conditions on which you are accepting. Here in Queensland auction terms are unconditional:

• No finance clauses
• No building and pest clauses
• Waiving off of 5 day cooling off period

Once the hammer drops the winning bidder immediately owns the property. Before you bid at an auction make sure you have finance approval by your broker to participate.

One of the greatest frustrations that interstate buyers experience when attempting to buy property on the Gold Coast is the lack of price guide information from sale agents. There are no legal requirements for sale agents to give this information to buyers.

Here are 3 tips to find your own price guide:

1. Research and find the last 3 recent sales within 4km of the property you are wanting to buy
2. Make sure the properties you find are similar in block size, internal size and layout
3. Call 3 other sale agents who sell homes in the area and ask their opinion on what the property may be worth

Unlike some other states, Queensland sellers do not need to give any previous or existing information about their property to interested buyers. It is up to the buyers to complete their own due diligence before they make an offer.

Examples of due diligence:

• Dual occupancy homes — verify council approval and permits
• Extensions or renovations — confirm compliance and certification
• Future plans — engage a town planner before assuming you can extend

Required seller documentation:

• Smoke alarms must be compliant and certified
• Swimming pool certificate of safety and compliance if applicable

Termites exist on the Gold Coast. We always recommend making your offer subject to a 7-day building and pest report, or completing your own inspection before auction if the seller has not provided one.

• Terminate the contract and receive your deposit back in full
• Request a price adjustment for major defect work required
• Request the seller attends to issues before settlement