The standout Brisbane suburbs poised to deliver growth
Many have nominated Brisbane as the growth city for 2014. That certainly has been a core Hotspotting theme since the latter part of last year and nothing has happened to alter our view.
Brisbane was a moderate performer in 2013 (as were most of our cities, contrary to the media image of a national boom), only sparking to life with a return to price growth late in the year.
This happened on the back of increases in sales volumes. Brisbane ended the year with many suburbs and precincts rising on a pattern of increased market activity, pointing to price rises in 2014.
My Price Predictor Index revealed one precinct as the one most likely to lead Brisbane’s price growth revival in 2014: the northern suburbs of the Brisbane City Council area.
In most of our cities, dozens of local councils govern small portions of the metropolitan area. In Sydney, the City of Sydney encompasses only the CBD and a small number of near-city suburbs (only 4% of Greater Sydney’s total population) and there’s a similar situation is other big cities.
But Brisbane is different. The Brisbane City Council covers a major chunk of the metro area and there are only five LGAs governing the entire area of Greater Brisbane. And it’s the northern suburbs of the Brisbane LGA that have stood up as the market leader as 2014 rolls on.
Ipswich City in the south-west and Logan City in the south are also poised for growth, but the standout in terms of sales volumes is the northern portion of Brisbane City.
We rate Brisbane Northside as one of the top 10 municipalities across Australia for growth this year. Many of its suburbs have rising markets, including Chermside where consecutive quarters delivered 37 house and unit sales, then 80, then 101.
Others with ascendant markets include Alderley, Aspley, Clayfield, Nundah and Zillmere.
The northern suburbs of the Brisbane City Council LGA tend to be middle market areas, with median house prices between $450,000 and $600,000.
This is an area with good transport links, including the Gateway Motorway and rail links from central Brisbane through this precinct to the Sunshine Coast.
There are plenty of employment nodes, with hospitals, schools and government departments playing a large role. The region includes both Brisbane International Airport and the Port of Brisbane, near which is clustered the Australia TradeCoast commercial-industrial precinct.
There are major shopping complexes, including Westfield Chermside, Aspley Hypermarket and Toombul Shopping Centre. Brisbane Northside also has the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Residential property demand is strong throughout this precinct, with vacancies in most suburbs below 2.5%. There is a growing unit market in many suburbs – Nundah in the past 12 months had 112 house sales and 225 unit sales (median price $380,000), while Chermside had 103 house sales and 149 unit sales (median price $387,000).
This precinct, then, presents one of real estate’s power combinations: affordable dwellings, good infrastructure and plenty of jobs nodes.
Affordability, plus infrastructure, plus jobs nodes, usually adds up to price growth.