The Queensland property market may not be at its peak, but it is still going strong, say real estate agents and property analysts. Despite the decline in new house sales, now was the time to buy a residential property north of the border, said Michael Matusik, of Matusik Property Insights in Brisbane. "The fundamentals here are quite strong," he said. "There's a return to price growth, although not much." Mr Matusik said that if interest rates remained stable and economic growth and employment in Queensland remained strong, price growth for established property should be between 5 and 8 per cent in the next 12 months. "The market, however, is somewhat weak at present, as vendors have held off listing properties for sale during the winter," he said. "Those that were realistic, however, did sell their properties quickly." Mr Matusik said the number of dwellings built in the next 12 months would not increase, as construction costs were high. Don McKenzie, managing director of the Real Estate Institute of Queensland, said that while the market had softened, and there was not the buyer frenzy there had been some months ago, it was still strong. "Generally, we're pretty confident of our market here in Queensland," Mr McKenzie said. "There's still strong buyer interest and prices are holding up throughout the south-east corner and up the coastal regions up to Cairns . . . partly because of the extraordinary migration rate into Queensland. "Property, certainly in Brisbane, is still more affordable than in Sydney and Melbourne." Mr McKenzie said good properties were selling almost straightaway six to 12 months ago. "But now, they stay on the market for between 30 and 45 days," he said. Patrick Dixon, of Dixon Partners Quality Property in Brisbane, agreed that the market was subdued. "It's come off its peak of February 2004," Mr Dixon said. "The investment market in home units is soft, vacant land is soft but owner-occupied real estate, although it's down on what it was, is better than anything in the market. "The premium end of the market is strong because of the solid economic performance in Queensland." While the market in Queensland had experienced a "soft landing", Mr Dixon said quality houses and units were still strong by 1990s standards "anything on the river, anything with city views". Mr McKenzie said he expected the market to "hold up fairly solidly in the forseeable future" as long as the economy kept ticking along as it had been doing. Source:The Sun-Herald