This three bedder at 2 Allunga Street, Kelso, is on a 699 sqm block and sold for $640,000 on February 27, 2026.
A rare near-identical $88,000 rise across houses, units and all dwellings saw Townsville homes earn more than the average worker in the past year – catching up on a decade of falls.
The rare uniform surge signalling unprecedented demand across the entire housing spectrum was revealed in the latest PropTrack Home Price Index, out Monday, with houses climbing $88,040, units up $87,704 and the overall dwelling market jumping $88,223 over the past 12 months.
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REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh.
A three bedroom house on a 807 sqm block at 27 Samantha Street, Kelso, sold for $580,000 on February 25, 2026.
Units drove the market surge in Townsville, rising 21.81 per cent to push the median to $489,844, while houses increased 15.61 per cent to reach $652,623. All dwellings combined rose 16.71 per cent to a median of $615,880.
REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh said it is possible that Townsville and Cairns prices could peak this year but there was still double digit growth.
“It’s a normal part of the market cycle after they were consistently among the top regions in the country for growth over many years,” she said.
“Growth is moderating compared to the previous momentum, but it is still high. Cairns is still recording double digit annual growth. Townsville is still running hot, annual growth is approaching 17 per cent. It’s 14 per cent in Cairns. This is still very strong, especially in the context of national rises.”
Real Estate Institute of Queensland zone chair for Townsville, Benjamin Kingsberry, said the price surge was “an enormous increase for sure” but the market was still correcting a decade of falls that occurred earlier.
“From around 2009 to about 2019, the market just went backwards. We had high vacancy rates. We had a really poorly performing market for a very long time. Some of what we’re seeing now really is still a correction.”
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REIQ Townsville zone chair Ben Kingsberry. Picture: Leighton Smith.
A four bedroom house at 11 Dommett Street, Wulguru – with stables set on a 1,012 sqm block – sold for $599,000 on February 26, 2026.
Units outstripped houses in percentage terms because they lagged behind for years, he said.
“The houses rose for a few years before the units started to see that growth. We’ve certainly seen a lot more focus on the unit market in recent times, just really based around affordability and the fact that five years ago, it was really achievable for first time buyers to buy a reasonably good quality home, reasonably well situated whereas now, if you’re a first homebuyer, we’ve seen a lot more focus go into that unit space.”
He said for sellers considering putting their homes on the market, the timing was right.
“If you’re looking to sell in the next 12 months, or even in the next couple of years, my advice is it’s probably a good time to look at it. We don’t know what it will look like in 12 months. We know that right now it’s very, very strong.”
He said buyers in this market needed to be strategic to be competitive.
“It’s not just the price, we’re often selling homes not necessarily to the highest offer, but to the one that has the best terms,” Mr Kingsberry said.
“If I had an offer of, say $600,000 on a house, and they had another offer of $610,000 but it had conditions in it, then our advice to the seller would generally be to strongly consider the $600,000 because there’s less risk.”
Mr Kingsberry said cashed-up southern buyers had been driving growth for years because they spotted value long before locals saw it.
“As recently as a couple of years ago, they were looking at markets like ours to buy four bed, two bath homes for $400,000 or $450,000 that would cost $600,000 to build. They just saw it from a different perspective. The locals have caught up now.”
