By Meighan Hetherington of Property Pursuit www.propertypursuit.com.au

As we head towards the end of the year, we have paused to take a look at the property market across South East Queensland over the last 12 months - and what wonderful time to be a property owner!

I had the pleasure of being a guest on the 4BC Real Estate show (link to www.realestatetalk.com.au ) with Kevin Turner on Saturday 8th December and one of the things we discussed was the strength of the current market as indicated in the release of the latest REIQ figures.

The Brisbane local Government Area (LGA) showed strong growth of 13.3% for the 12 months to September quarter. So that means this time last year you could have bought an average house for $382,500 but now to buy the same house you will need to pay over $425,000.

The Gold Coast LGA also provided a nice healthy return up 9% to $436,050. Redcliffe LGA has continued steadily up by 10% to $330,000, Pine Rivers LGA up 12.9% to $350,000 and Logan up 13.5% to $295,000.

Another topic for discussion on Saturday was the massive amount of development planned for the Gold Coast. With this area being one of the biggest growth corridors in the world, developers have put $66 million of developments in the pipeline, with many in the $1 million plus luxury apartment market. We look at that level of development with some caution as it may cause a level of oversupply, depending on when the bulk of the developments will come to market. So make sure you are well informed if thinking about buying on the Gold Coast.

These figures all show good solid growth across the year. Two weeks ago I was invited to guest lecture at a property investment seminar for TAFE Gold Coast and TAFE Southbank where I was asked "Surely this level of growth cannot continue?"

For those people who are waiting for prices to drop to enter the market unfortunately there are no indications that we are heading for a large scale downturn in house prices in the near future. Business sentiment is strong, unemployment remains low, interest rates are tipped to go up another 50 points before the end of the financial year but this still has not deterred home buyers or investors, and population growth is still bringing new people into the region and creating high levels of demand.

Although we are not into gazing into the crystal ball and forecasting the future, we do see 2008 being more of the same - strong growth around selected pockets of Brisbane particularly the inner ring suburbs and bayside area spurred on by high demand and limited supply, steady growth across the Gold Coast, a continued high level of investor activity and rents up by around 10% again plus plenty of home buyers moving here from interstate and overseas.