Brisbane Market Outlook

From Richard Lawrence, Principal and Founder, Position Property

The Brisbane residential property market is at a critical crossroad, with new listings across the city reported as being 17.8% lower than the previous five-year average, and almost 20% lower than this time last year.
                             
What does that mean for buyers and sellers? Well for sellers, we’re still seeing prices exceed expectations on prices for their property. With 20-30 groups inspecting each property at each open, and most properties selling within a matter of days.  With more than 700,000 migrants forecast to make the move to Australia by 2024, combined with interstate migration, this unprecedented demand will continue to outstrip supply.       

For buyers, we’re seeing more people begin to broaden their search criteria and become more flexible on their “non-negotiables”. These range from location, to property configuration, and more interest in off-plan opportunities due to the range of available properties. The vast majority of our sales are off-plan - 74% over the past financial year.

The First Home Buyer market is bouncing back, following a slower start to the year off the back of consecutive interest rate rises and rents also continuing to rise due to low vacancy rates. This segment has built more confidence and urgency to enter the property market before they miss out.
                   
Downsizers are also demonstrating more market confidence, with the increased cash rate being of benefit to them, they are now firming up their decision to downsize into more lifestyle driven properties, such as apartments and townhomes located in the inner to middle ring of the city. This is an expanding segment of the off plan market, with buyers realising the benefit of time to get their interests in order while watching their house values grow and enjoying the fixed price on their new off plan purchase. They’re often surprised at the level of considered design in new properties, with apartment attraction growing due to features such as second living areas, butler’s pantries off the kitchen and family sized laundry rooms.          
                          
With inflation and construction costs continuing to rise each quarter, and momentum building towards the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, we can’t see the trend in supply or property prices changing in the coming months or years. 
                     
Running parallel to this is the Queensland Government Statistician’s Office reporting that under a high-growth projection, the greater Brisbane region could pass 3 million residents by 2028. That’s more than half the State’s population living in the capital.

A “wait and see” approach will not only cost you time, but also money as buyers miss the market.