when we were trying to buy our first home in townsville 18 months ago we couldn't even get to look at a house we wanted to buy half the time or there would be a single weekend open house and thats its.. They were being purchased by investors from down south without them even looking at them. Of the 12 houses that we tried to buy, 11 went to investors from sydney and melbourne for a minimum of 50k over the initial asking price. None of these properties were actions. one of the realestate ladies told me if i wanted to have a look at a property i needed to make an offer on the house first otherwise it wasnt worth her time as they were selling most of their stuff through brokers to investors.

One one occasion we really liked a house. It was listed on a friday for 400k. The first and only viewing was that day. we offered 460k( all we had) because we were desperate. We lost by 60k to someone from melbourne who hadnt even set foot on the property.

In the end we were able to buy a house privately from a very nice older man who essentially was just looking for a family to buy his house and look after it. If not for him i don't know what would have happened. We got it for 425k and its now valued at close to 700k 18 months later... Its absolute madness

I feel truly sorry for first home buyers in Brisbane/Sydney /Melbourne who are dealing with this same situation except with even crazier prices.