Suburb Spotlight: Wilston, a recovering market

Jessie RichardsonDecember 7, 2020

Wilston, located 3 kilometres out of Brisbane’s CBD, is a small prestige suburb with a recovering market. Sandwiched between Newmarket and Windsor and bounded at the south by Enoggera Creek, the suburb has a population of 3,872 people, according to the 2011 ABS census.

Kedron Brook Road, Wilston’s main retail strip, has seen significant redevelopment in recent years, pre-empting Brisbane’s urban renewal project.  The suburb is serviced by buses, and trains at Wilston Train Station. It is also close to the Royal Brisbane and Women’s hospital.

Wilston contains a mix of new units and older “Queenslanders”. According to Andrew Wilson, senior economist at Property Monitors, the suburb's strongest growth over the last 12 months can be seen in its mid-range properties.

"The median price in Wilston is around $800,000, making it a prestige inner-city suburb. But in the top end of the market, while there's been some signs of revival, it's certainly been patchy," he said.

"The homes in the $500,000 to $600,000 band have been doing well in the last year, after some weakness from the year before."

Ray White Wilston principal Alistair Macmillan agrees that the suburb's prestige homes have seen a downturn in recent years.

“Post-GFC we have experienced a lot of prestige buyers exiting the market. This meant that home owners wanting to sell were experiencing very little interest and offers, often resulting in homes being sold well under owners expectations,” he said.

“Over this time frame we saw a lot of homes on the market with very few selling. From 2008 to 2013 we have seen very little change in the median sale price, ranging from $400,000 to $500,000. The main reason for this was the lack of prestige homes that were sold, unlike the height of the market in the early 2000's where we say the median price increase to well over $1,000,000.”

But according to Macmillan, the prestige market has been strengthening over the last year. The buyers he encounters are mostly young families with professional occupations, drawn to the suburb's schools.

“The most encouraging signs recently have been a large number of homes selling over the past 12 months in the higher price ranges showing an increase in buyer confidence in this prestigious market.

“Over the past year there have been 9 homes sold in Wilston over $1,200,000, with the most number of sales being homes from $700,000 to $800,000. This is a great sign of consumer confidence not only in real estate but Wilston in particular. Last year Ray White Wilston sold the highest priced property on a 405 square metre block, which was $2,020,000.”

However, Wilson says that he is yet to see evidence of a sustained revival of the top end of Wilston's property market. 

"There's no sign of a sustained revival of prices in the prestige market," he said.

According to Wilson, Wilston's overall market will be seeing growth in later years. 

"Wilston's revival will happen at the later stages of Brisbane's momentum, once the market is up and running. We'd have to see a strong revival in the state's economy, which is on the cards. The trend will be up - but not quite yet."

jrichardson@propertyobserver.com.au

Editor's Picks