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Nov 17, 2021

Toowong to West End & St Lucia to West End Green Bridges

The Toowong to West End Green Bridge and the St Lucia to West End Green Bridge will connect more residents to parks, cafes, businesses and public transport, and make it even easier to walk and ride around our city..... Read More

Nov 16, 2021

Inner City Vitality Report 2021

This Inner-City Vitality Report for the Committee for Brisbane presents the 2021 snapshot of the health and vitality of the Brisbane Inner City across ... Read More

Nov 10, 2021

CoreLogic Market Update - Brisbane November 2021

Nov 2, 2021

Council Negotiates Land Deal for South Bank 2.0

The vision for South Bank 2.0 is crystallising as negotiations progress for a riverfront industrial site in Brisbane’s inner-city suburb of West End. Speaking at the Property Council of Australia Queensland lunch, Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner confirmed the council’s offer had been “well received” and negotiations were progressing for the 7ha site at 137 Montague Road. The site has been slated for the temporary international broadcast centre as part of the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games. Currently an industrial site for Visy Glass works, the buildings would be demolished, site remediation would be carried out and a power substation built for the temporary 57,000sq m international broadcast centre. “It’s the perfect way to add to what was created at South Bank for Expo ‘88—this is going to be South Bank 2.0,” Schrinner said. “The offer for the Visy Glass factory site has been well received and we are progressing through those negotiations now.” [caption id="attachment_8392311" align="alignnone" width="800"] ▲ A 7ha site on Montague Road at West End is part of plans for Brisbane's 2032 Olympic Games and the extension of South Bank.[/caption] According to the Future Host Commission Report, the land could be compulsorily acquired with fair compensation, and site preparation would require capital investment from the state government. Under the plan, the factories along Montague Road at West End would likely move from their waterfront site over the next five years to make way for the temporary Olympic infrastructure, and ultimately an extension of public parkland. “Everyone wants to get cracking on the Olympic opportunities and there’s a lot of work to be done … we want to measure twice and cut once, it’s neither a sprint nor a marathon,” Schrinner said. Schrinner said the focus was on building the right infrastructure and legacy for the city and south-east Queensland beyond the Games. The International Broadcast Centre would be within walking distance of five Olympic sporting venues and a shuttle bus would operate between the broadcast centre and the media centre at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre. It would align with the council's draft Kurilpa Riverfront Renewal Masterplan, which aims to unlock riverfront land in the industrial area of West End. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said the council had committed to deliver a new multi-use parkland on the 7ha site. “Negotiations with the owner of the industrial business on the site continue positively,” Schrinner said. “As soon as we can reveal more, we will ... we’re looking forward to sharing our vision for South Bank 2.0 and delivering this lasting legacy for residents and visitors to our great city.” At the heart of Brisbane’s Olympic Games is the $1-billion redevelopment of The Gabba as the main stadium to host the Opening Ceremony and the athletics. The Brisbane Arena will be built near Roma Street Parklands with a capacity of 15,000 people, and will host the swimming and water polo, while Ballymore would be rebuilt to host hockey matches, and a new indoor arena has been slated for Albion.

Oct 12, 2021

CoreLogic Market Update - Brisbane October 2021

Oct 8, 2021

Australian Retailers Association- Welcome Back Customers Pack

Retailers across the country affected by lockdowns are looking forward to welcoming back customers when we hit our vaccination targets. The ARA has created a Resource Hub encapsulating a range of informative materials to aid a smooth transition in your retail reopening. Please utilise these resources and share them far and wide, amongst your staff and to your customers, to promote a safe and respectful shopping experience for all.

Oct 7, 2021

Australian housing values rising at the fastest annual pace since June 1989

CoreLogic’s national home value index rose another 1.5% in September, taking Australian housing values 17.6% higher over the first nine months of the year and 20.3% higher over the past 12 months.  The annual growth rate is now tracking at the fastest pace since the year ending June 1989. The monthly change in housing values remains positive across every capital city and broad rest of state region, with Hobart (2.3%) and Canberra (2.0%) recording the largest growth, while Darwin (0.1%) and the recently revised Perth index (0.3%) recorded the softest growth conditions across the capitals. Across regional Australia, regional NSW (2.0%), regional Tasmania (1.7%) and Regional Queensland (1.7%) led September’s capital gains. Although growth conditions remain positive, it is becoming increasingly clear the housing market moved past its peak rate of growth in March when nationally dwelling values increased by 2.8%.  Since that time, the monthly rate of growth has eased back to 1.5%. CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless, believes the slowing growth conditions are the result of higher barriers to entry for non-home owners along with fewer government incentives to enter the market. “With housing values rising substantially faster than household incomes, raising a deposit has become more challenging for most cohorts of the market, especially first home buyers.  Sydney is a prime example where the median house value is now just over $1.3 million.  In order to raise a 20% deposit, the typical Sydney house buyer would need around $262,300. Existing home owners looking to upgrade, downsize or move home may be less impacted as they have had the benefit of equity that has accrued as housing values surged. “The slowdown in first home buyers can be seen in the lending data, where the number of owner occupier first home buyer loans has fallen by -20.5% between January and July.  Over the same period, the number of first home buyers taking out an investment housing loan has increased, albeit from a low base, by 45%, suggesting more first home buyers are choosing to ‘rent vest’ as a way of getting their foot in the door,” Mr Lawless continued. Despite worsening affordability, house values are still generally rising faster than unit values; a trend that has been evident throughout most of the COVID period to-date, especially across the capital cities.  Hobart and Darwin are the only capital cities where this trend has not occurred, with unit values rising 5.4 percentage points and 4.8 percentage points more than house values respectively over the past 12 months.

Sep 22, 2021

Brisbane Housing Market Insights: September

The rate of price growth has remained stable in Brisbane after reaching a peak in March this year after values rose 2.4 per cent across the month. The city ranked third-fastest city nationally for August behind the much smaller markets of Canberra, up 2.2 per cent, and Hobart up 2.3 per cent. August’s dwelling prices growth was unchanged from July, while house prices moderated over the month losing a bit of steam as the apartment market surged. The latest Corelogic figures, for August, reveal property values rose 2 per cent, and are now up 18.3 per cent over the year. The current median value for a dwelling is $612,000 after further advancing an additional $14,000 during August. Brisbane house prices grew by 2.1 per cent, a slight dip from the 2.2 per cent increase in July, to be up 6.7 per cent for the quarter and 20.2 per cent for the year. Brisbane’s median house price of $691,000, which rose by $13,000 in August, is still less than half of Sydney’s but is now on par with that for Adelaide and Hobart. The average unit in Brisbane is now selling for $425,000, a gain of $6000 over the month, however, the growth gap between houses and units continues to widen. Experts now say this post-pandemic boom could fuel a further 15 per cent rise in house prices in the coming year and more than double, with a likely median of $1.5 million, by the time the 2032 Olympic Games begin. Brisbane’s housing market: policy updates Olympics to push Brisbane market’s limits Brisbane house prices will hit the $1-million median well before the 2032 Olympics with suburbs near venues tipped to move up to $3.9 million. Property projections from PRD Research indicate the median price would reach $1.7 million by 2033 and would be “immensely” boosted on the Gold and Sunshine coasts. Queensland border to remain closed until 90pc vaccination rate Queensland may not reopen to the rest of Australia until it gets to a 90 per cent vaccination rate. Despite New South Wales and Victoria outlining a roadmap to opening up, based on an 80 per cent double vaccination rate, Queensland is yet to commit to any blueprint for going forward, even with the population likely to hit 80 per cent double jabs by December 5. Queensland budget announcement Queensland faces a “hard road” during the next four years as the state recovers from the coronavirus pandemic, Treasurer Cameron Dick says. Property tax concessions are notably absent from the Queensland budget as the state details its plans for the year to come. Instead 86,000 interstate migrants, health and education investments as well as infrastructure spending are expected to boost the state economy. Brisbane housing market forecasts NAB is forecasting Brisbane house prices to rise by 19.5 per cent over the next 18 months with a 4.4 per cent rise across 2022. ANZ has tipped house prices to jump by more than 21 per cent this year in Brisbane, lifting its forecasts despite the lockdowns, off the back of the stronger than expected property market. CBA now expects Brisbane house prices to increase by 16.6 per cent to December 2022 compared to 13.7 per cent in Sydney and 12.4 per cent in Melbourne. Westpac has also updated its property forecasts, with Brisbane real estate prices tipped to surge 20 per cent between 2022 and 2023. Auction clearance rates across the country’s capital cities dropped to their lowest levels since April last year in the final week of August. Most housing withdrawals occurred in Melbourne, which saw 867 homes taken to auction, and 64.3 per cent withdrawn. Property inspections are banned under public health orders in Victoria, weighing heavily on the preliminary clearance rate, which was 34.7 per cent. In comparison, 48 per cent of auctions were withdrawn over the previous week and a final auction clearance rate of 49.1 per cent was recorded. Sydney recorded a preliminary auction clearance rate of 82.7 per cent, with 421 properties sold. Under the public health orders, one-on-one private home inspections are permitted, which has been helping to prop up the market. Canberra’s primary clearance rate fell sharply to 63 per cent, its lowest level since April last year. Markets not under lockdown are outperforming Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. Adelaide was the best performer, boasting a preliminary auction clearance rate of 81.3 per cent. Brisbane recorded a preliminary auction rate of 81.3 per cent. In Perth, 72.7 per cent of auctions were successful, across 11 results. Brisbane’s rental markets, unlike Sydney and Melbourne, remain strong with lower vacancy rates, house rentals rising strongly and apartment rentals rising for the first time in five years. Corelogic’s head of residential research Eliza Owen said stock numbers for houses and units available for rent in Brisbane remains tight, and would now be placing upward pressure on prices. With national housing values rising by 18.4 per cent and rents rising by a lower 8.2 per cent, ongoing yield compression is likely. Nationally, gross rental yields have now fallen to an all-time low of 3.32 per cent. It is no longer just Sydney and Melbourne where rental yields are plumbing historic lows. Brisbane has also seen gross rental yields fall to new record lows in August, now 3.9 per cent. According to REA Group, renter activity is also on the rise with rental inquiries for greater Brisbane properties up almost 30 per cent year-on-year. Rocklea, where a typical house will set a renter back $427 a week, was found to be the most affordable, while Kalinga was the cheapest for smaller homes with a median unit price of $303 a week. At the other end of the spectrum, Teneriffe had the highest median price for both houses and units at $920 and $560 a week respectively. There are high vacancy rates in the inner city suburbs of Auchenflower, Dutton Park, Herston, West End and Brisbane. Brisbane CBD has the highest vacancy rate at 6.6 per cent followed by St Lucia at 4.9 per cent. A significant dip in housing approvals has added fuel to the already hot property market, despite a lockdown softening. Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows the number of private-sector houses approved dropped 11.8 per cent in June, following the downward trajectory since the end of the Federal government’s HomeBuilder stimulus package. Across both houses and units the number of dwellings approved fell 6.7 per cent, compared to a 7.6 per cent decrease in May. Queensland and Western Australia experienced the biggest decline in both house and unit approvals. In Western Australia overall dwellings approvals dropped by 30.5 per cent, followed by Queensland at 18.4 per cent and Tasmania at 14.9 per cent. In the 2020-21 financial year total dwelling approvals nationally were 27.3 per cent higher than in 2019-20 financial year, driven by a 42.8 per cent surge in private sector house approvals. Dwelling approvals increased more than 88 per cent in Western Australia over the financial year, while in Queensland it was up 36.7 per cent and Tasmania experienced a 33.9 per cent increase. Investment mortgage loan growth outpaced lending to owner occupiers and first home buyers for a third month in July. Investors are continuing to take advantage of record low interest rates and their extra wealth as rising prices put housing out of the reach of younger buyers. The value of new loan commitments for owner-occupier housing decline -6.3 per cent, while property investor loans increased 9.3 per cent. The value of loans to first home buyers declined by 8.8 per cent per cent in July, as the federal government’s HomeBuilder stimulus, continues to drop out of the system. The latest Housing Industry Association measure of housing affordability also shows a sharp deterioration across the country over the past year. Housing prices have risen almost 11 times faster than wages growth over the past year, creating a more significant barrier to entry for those who don’t yet own a home. In dollar terms, Australia's median property price has risen by around $103,400 in the past year (which equates to about $1,990 per week). In comparison, Australian wages are growing at a much slower pace (about 1.7 per cent annually), underscoring the worsening affordability issues. Interstate migration into Queensland, growing at its fastest rate since late 2003, has remained a tailwind for housing demand. Brisbane’s population grew by 1.9 per cent during 2019-20, recording the highest growth rate of all capital cities, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data. Queensland experienced a net gain of 28,500 people from interstate in the March quarter and 21,465 departures. Queensland’s population is expected to surge by more than a quarter of a million people in the next four years according to forecasts in the federal budget, as people flood in from other states. Treasury boffins have predicted Queensland is set to gain around 20,000 people from interstate each year for the next four years—amounting to almost 85,000 new residents by mid-2025. Next year alone, federal treasury estimates see Queensland gaining 23,800 new interstate residents, while Victoria is set to lose 1200 and New South Wales is tipped to shed as many as 15,500. With a population of roughly 3.7 million, Queensland’s southeast is Australia’s fastest-growing zone. Queensland’s population is predicted to hit 5.44 million by mid-2025, up from 5.17 million as of June 2020.