Why Brisbane, why now?
PARTNER CONTENT
With a lot of the focus recently being on the growth within Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane is sometimes overlooked as a location to purchase; both as an investment and as somewhere to live. We receive a lot of market commentary, and have compiled some of it here to answer the question of why Brisbane, and why now?
Looking at some underlying drivers of growth, the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that population growth to 2013 for Queensland sits at 1.9%, which is above NSW at 1.4% and on par with Victoria.
On a side-note, despite this growth in the southern states, approvals for private sector houses fell nationally, but have actually risen in Queensland on average by 0.3%.
With the Queensland economy showing strong signs of life, bolstered by regional centres recording growth, the state government has identified $134.2 billion of infrastructure investment to occur in Brisbane over the coming years as a part of their statewide infrastructure plan.
This investment, amongst other things, is starting to pay off with Brisbane now appearing on Monocle’s worldwide ‘Quality of Life’ survey for 2014. This survey measures a city’s intangible aspects, beyond simply the infrastructure that keeps it going. Melbourne and Sydney have been solid contenders over the years, however of note is that Brisbane appeared for the first time this year in the top 25 list.
RP Data shows the southern cities experiencing growth over 10% in the past 12 months to July 2014, with Brisbane coming in at a strong 6.9%. This growth in the Sunshine state is tipped to increase in the coming months; with Brisbane being identified as only being at the beginning of its upward movement in its property cycle. BIS Shrapnel states that the strongest growth over the next three years is forecast for the Brisbane market, where affordability has improved significantly after weak price performance in recent years.
The southern markets are also currently presenting a potential barrier to entry for buyers in the form of median house values, being $838,000 and $711,000 for Sydney and Melbourne respectively. RP Data shows Brisbane as having a more affordable $496,000, or $399,000 for units, which would purchase a new two bedroom apartment 7 kilometres from the Brisbane CBD.
This combination of lifestyle choice, anticipated growth, improving infrastructure and price point has led investors looking north for the high yields and future growth potential. Owner-occupiers are also looking to Queensland along similar lines, and are looking to take advantage of the $15,000 Great Start Grant and the transfer duty discount for first homes.
With Queensland taking its place on the world stage with the upcoming G20 meetings and the next Commonwealth Games, Brisbane presents as ripe for investment and with the low property prices first home buyers are finding it easier to get onto the property ladder in the rising market.
ANDREW HERBERT is partner of My First Place.
My First Place is offering a buyers club to support buyers in finding their property. For First Home Buyers there’s a package worth $4,200 that covers solicitor fees, mortgage application fees, building inspection, insurance and utilities. For investors the package is worth $3,350 and it covers solicitor fees, mortgage application fees, building inspection, landlord insurance and a depreciation schedule.