With Sydney prices continuing to rise, look out for more young families and retirees migrating north to take advantage of the value for money and lifestyle Queensland has to offer.
In many capital cities around Australia FY15 proved to be another remarkable year for price growth with Sydney in particular now experiencing back-to-back years of 15% or more growth. Although our southern counterparts experienced boom conditions throughout FY15, Brisbane and South East Queensland did not see the same highs with Brisbane property prices increasing by 3.4% compared to the FY14 gains of 7%. However as much as I would love to be reporting double digit growth, it’s not all bad news for South East Queensland.
FY15 proved to be the year where a considerable amount of confidence returned to markets not only in Brisbane but more importantly on The Gold and Sunshine Coast’s. Investor activity, largely driven by stronger rental yields and incredible value, has been a noticeable change throughout the past 12 months with this trend set to continue over the course of FY16. This can be attributed to the fact that the price gap between Sydney and Brisbane is becoming so large ($900,000 vs $500,000) that it is extremely hard for any seasoned or even first time investor not to take notice.
In Brisbane it was no surprise that the inner-city blue chip suburbs such as New Farm, Ascot and Bulimba, which all sit comfortably within the 5km radius of the CBD, performed strongly. The real surprise occurred in the outer suburbs situated within 15km of the CBD where we have seen increased buyer competition leading to extremely low days on market. CoreLogic RP Data recently released figures detailing the five suburbs with the lowest days on market in Brisbane with all five (Holland Park, Everton Park, Mansfield, Belmont and Salisbury) being suburbs that fall outside the 5km radius of the CBD.
Looking further afield, The Gold Coast continues to see a raft of infrastructure projects either scheduled to be completed or started, such as the Light Rail, the new Gold Coast University Hospital, the continuing rejuvenation and development of the Southport CBD and the establishment of a Chinatown. When you add into the mix the excitement that continues to build in the lead up to the 2018 Commonwealth Games it is hard not to see the Gold Coast property market continuing its momentum throughout FY16.
I would also expect to see sustained growth in blue chip Sunshine Coast suburbs such as Noosa, Mooloolaba, Buderim and Sunshine Beach as tourism continues to bounce back post GFC and interstate buyers re-enter these popular lifestyle markets.
In conclusion, although the numbers don’t indicate FY15 was a stellar year for growth in South East Queensland, it could very well be the year that sets up some strong results for the future. With Sydney prices continuing to rise, look out for more young families and retirees migrating north to take advantage of the value for money and lifestyle Queensland has to offer.