Brisbane market’s strength to muscle up further in 2014: Place Estate Agents
With the Brisbane market being a clear investor favourite in 2013, and heading out with a bang, Place Estate Agents note that the strong surge will continue on this year.
CEO of Place, Damian Hackett, said that there has been strength in the Brisbane market for the past few months with the sub $1 million market leading, and a top-end recovery emerging.
“From a volumes perspective the top end is performing better than expected as we near the end of the year, and evidence of that is the sale of four properties for more than $4 million each – including one for $7.5 million - changing hands in just one week in December,” said Hackett.
While the market’s strength and sales activity has been encouraging, he noted that the market may be more tempered in 2024.
“The current level of activity is so strong that it may not be sustainable in the long term,” he said.
“But that’s not to say the Brisbane market won’t perform well in 2014 – it is certainly in the upturn phase at the moment and while activity may not be quite as strong, the momentum will continue into next year, and along with that will come price growth.”
He said that the first green shoots could be seen in 2011/2012 when the market was unstable.
“Undoubtedly, those who took the plunge and invested through 2011 and 2012 will have already created equity in their portfolios,” he said, explaining that while there have been a number of years where buyers had the upperhand, this momentum has shifted.
“Buyers are feeling an urgency to get into the market before they essentially ‘miss out’, so there are plenty of them around, and vendors are primed to take advantage of this,” he said.
“In addition to strength in buyer numbers, in some cases homes have sold for prices above vendor expectations, particularly in the lower end of the market.”
"The big question now is whether we’ll see an increase in activity amongst these buyers in the top end of Brisbane’s market, as has been the case in Sydney and Melbourne,” he said.
Lachlan Walker, Place Advisory Director, predicted that while residential price growth in Brisbane had lagged behind some of the other capitals in 2013, it would begin a recovery in the city in 2014, establishing equity in property assets.
“Certainly 2013 has excelled all expectations and prior forecasts for the Brisbane residential market,” he said.