BRISBANE was the only major state capital to see home values grow last month, escaping the worst national housing decline in six years that’s hit other states.
Preliminary CoreLogic results show September values in Brisbane jumped 0.1 per cent at a time when every other major capital city went backwards.
Annually Brisbane’s growth has hit 0.8 per cent – the highest of all state capitals – while both Sydney (-6.1 per cent) and Melbourne (-3.1 per cent) dropped substantially into negative territory.
CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said Brisbane now represented “great buying opportunities” with a more balanced market than Sydney or Melbourne.
The city was seeing a rise in buyer interest, benefiting sellers, but values were still way more affordable than Sydney and Melbourne.
“Less homes are also getting built, the construction cycle peaked in 2016, while population growth has been ramping up so more buyers are returning to the market,” Mr Lawless said.
Universal Buyers Agent property expert Darren Piper told The Courier-Mail that the city was the place to watch now.
“What we’re seeing in Brisbane is just massive growth. The buyer pool is getting larger day by day. In the sub-$1m market, usually buyers stepping up to their second home, that’s pretty much tripled now.”.
Enquiries from Sydney and Melbourne were leading the charge, he said.
“What that means for Brisbane is the timing is right to sell and timing is everything in real estate. I hand-on-heart think Brisbane is the place to watch at the moment with the amount of infrastructure going in, the airport upgrade, there’s a lot of behind it at the moment.”
Property Investment Professionals of Australia chariman Peter Koulizos agreed Brisbane was now “a hot favourite” for investment.
“The affordability of Brisbane compared to Sydney and Melbourne has really come into sharp focus in the past year. Not only are investors considering the Sunshine State capital as an investment location, a growing number are choosing to migrate to take advantage of the significant value gap as well as Queensland’s enviable lifestyle and strengthening economy.”
Brisbane home values have managed to hold out against a national credit crunch-induced housing decline for over a year, according to Mr Lawless.
“Brisbane values have been holding firm. Prices were flat for the month and (Brisbane) was one of the few capitals where prices didn’t fall”.
“Unit values had been falling for a long time in Brisbane but the market has been getting more healthy because a lot of the excess supply is getting absorbed.”
The comments come ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia’s monetary policy meeting on Tuesday, where the majority of experts in the latest finder.com.au RBA survey expected the board to keep rates on hold.
Clement Tisdell of the University of Queensland School of Economics said the “economy is not overheated and the RBA would like to do what little it can to restrain increases in the rate of interest charged by the private sector given the level of debt”.
The CoreLogic Hedonic Home Value Index is set for release today.
SEPTEMBER GROWTH (preliminary):
Brisbane +0.1
Sydney -0.5%
Melbourne -0.8%
Adelaide -0.2%
Perth -0.7%
Combined capitals -0.5%
(Source: CoreLogic)
ANNUAL GROWTH (preliminary):
Brisbane +0.8%
Sydney -6.1%
Melbourne -3.1%
Adelaide +0.7%
Perth -2.8%
Combined capitals -3.6%
(Source: CoreLogic)