General News
11 October, 2026
Buyers ‘get on with it’
AN Innisfail real estate agent has sold eight properties in three days as buyers have decided to ignore the doom and gloom and “get on with it”.
Raine and Horne Innisfail negotiated eight sales late last month, ranging from $280,000 to $960,000, as local owner-occupiers returned to the market.
Principal Michael Skuse said local owner-occupiers returned to the Cassowary Coast market after a quieter period following the Federal Budget.
The eight properties ranged from an older three-bedroom workers cottage at 24 Cardier Road, Wangan, which sold for $280,000, to a master-built, four-bedroom beachfront residence on just over 1000sqm at 78 Bay Road, Coconuts, which fetched $960,000.
Mr Skuse said most buyers were locals buying their first home, upgrading or downsizing.
“In the first eight or 10 weeks after the Budget, it was noticeably quieter,” he said.
“But in the last few weeks, I think everyone has just decided to get on with it.
“Most of the buyers were locals and owner-occupiers. They were either buying their first home, upgrading or downsizing.”
The highest-priced sale was 78 Bay Road, Coconuts, a two-storey beachfront home featuring four bedrooms and two bathrooms. The property sold for $960,000 to a young local couple who plan to make it their long-term family home.
“They are a young local family,” Mr Skuse said.
“She has bought and sold a couple of properties through me to create some equity and this will be the home they get married, move into and have children.”
The property sold after 65 days on the market with Raine & Horne Innisfail, following six months with another agent.
At the other end of the scale, 24 Cardier Road, Wangan, sold for $280,000. The property is currently leased for $390 a week.
“It was actually the first investor sale I’ve made since the Budget,” Mr Skuse said.
“Before the Budget, I would sell one property a week over the telephone to someone from Sydney or Melbourne and that market has just completely disappeared.”
Mr Skuse said the eight sales showed the owner-occupier market was beginning to fill some of the gap left by interstate investors.”
He said agriculture remained the mainstay of the Innisfail economy, led by bananas, sugarcane and tropical fruits.
“Innisfail is one of the wettest towns in Australia and the local economy is mostly agriculture,” he said.
“We have banana growing, tropical fruits such as pawpaws, sugarcane and a fishing industry.
“We’re well served by Innisfail Hospital and a range of schools, including Good Counsel College and several state schools.”
The eight-sale run is the latest achievement for an office that has expanded rapidly since Mr Skuse acquired it in 2021.
“We had 15 managements and the business rarely made sales when I bought the office,” he said.
“Five years later, we have 450 managements and sell about 140 properties a year.”
The office’s growth helped it rank among Queensland’s top 10 Raine & Horne offices for both gross commission income and number of sales transactions at the network’s 2026 state awards.
Mr Skuse previously owned five real estate offices in the Batemans Bay area on the NSW South Coast before moving to Innisfail without any established local connections.
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