BUYING PROPERTY IN BRISBANE
BRISBANE BUYERS AGENTS
Greater Brisbane is a city of over 2.3 million people. It contains a number of geographical areas, which are named after the different city councils which administer them. Each offers different property types, suburb styles, price points and growth opportunities. We've described the major areas in detail below to get you started.
Don't forget, if you need help finding the right property in Brisbane, we offer independent and highly affordable advice and buyers agency packages - see below for more details.
BRISBANE METROPOLITAN AREA
Consisting of the Brisbane City Council Area, it encompasses a ring between 15-25km from the Brisbane CBD. The Brisbane metro area is the most expensive region in Brisbane to buy property, and is home to the most expensive suburbs in the city, including New Farm, Ascot, Hamilton, Bulimba and Hawthorne, which all have median house prices above 1 million dollars. House prices moderate as you progress further out from the city, with median house prices ranging between $500-700,000 in the city's middle ring (between 10-20kms). The Brisbane metro area contains a higher percentage of units (20%) than the rest of Queensland (10%), and almost all of the growth in property supply in this area will be through the construction of new apartments.
With the highest levels of employment, income, and the best infrastructure and amenity, the Brisbane metro area will almost certainly remain the most attractive location to live in Greater Brisbane. Future supply of the right kind of properties will also be very limited, which should drive long-term price growth. Detached houses across Brisbane's inner suburbs and middle-ring remain affordable compared to equivalent areas in Sydney and Melbourne, while townhouses and certain styles of units can be bought at attractive prices given the current oversupply.
As the economic and cultural centre of Greater Brisbane, the Brisbane CBD and its surrounds will have the highest levels of demand and greatest future scarcity for the right properties.
MORETON BAY
This region runs from Ferny Hills in Brisbane's inner north-west, through to Caboolture well to the north. Nestled between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast, Moreton Bay includes bayside areas such as the Redcliffe Peninsula, Deception Bay, Beachmere and Bribie Island, as well as the new development areas of North Lakes, Mango Hill, Kallangur and Narangba. The southern suburbs of Moreton Bay are essentially extensions on metropolitan Brisbane, however, as you venture further north, access to Brisbane becomes more difficult as congestion increases and infrastructure diminishes. The recent Moreton Bay Rail Link has improved access to the CBD, but cars remain the only form of workable transport for most of the population in the area.
As one of the fastest growing areas of Brisbane in recent times, Moreton Bay offers a range of affordable housing options. The future supply of housing in the area, particularly in the south, is also relatively constrained, which increases the chances of growth going forward. Good buying opportunities exist in southern areas that boast good access to the city (such as the Hills District and Albany Creek in the north-west, and Warner/Bray Park further north), while the Redcliffe Peninsula combines bayside amenity with reasonable access to the CBD and airport. Be wary of areas further to the north which are reliant on the M1; congestion is already a major problem, and supply of new housing will be highest in these areas.
REDLAND
The Redland City Council is located approx 30kms to the Brisbane CBD's east, at the southern end of Moreton Bay. The smallest and slowest-growing of the council areas of Greater Brisbane, Redland offers an attractive combination for families of larger properties, good schools and a cooler bay climate, while still enjoying reasonable access to the Brisbane metropolitan area. Bayside suburbs including Thorneside, Birkdale, Wellington Point, Ormiston and Cleveland are situated along the Cleveland Rail Line, while the inland suburbs of Cleveland and Alexandra Hills are more affordable, with better access to Brisbane by vehicle. Redland Bay and Victoria Point are further south and attract an older demographic.
The Redland Bay area has limited future housing construction planned, particularly for detached houses, which offer opportunities for good capital growth. Rental yields are also strong. Although future population growth will not be high as other parts of Greater Brisbane, the area will need continued infrastructure improvement to retain its access to Brisbane, including a planned busway to Capalaba and the duplication of the heavy rail line to Cleveland.
LOGAN
The Logan Council area lies between Southern Brisbane and the Gold Coast, and is the third largest council area by population. It incorporates the surburban areas south-east of Brisbane along the M1, including Springwood, Slacks Creek, Kingston, Logan, Tanah Merah, Beenleigh and Eagleby, as well as the growing areas south of the Logan Motorway, including Marsden, Crestmead, Regents Park and Boronia Heights. Much of the area south of this is rural, and includes the established rural centre of Jimboomba and the greenfields development areas of Yarrabilba and Flagstone.
While often touted as the next major growth area of Greater Brisbane, Logan still struggles with low incomes, higher unemployment, low workforce participation and higher crime rates. The housing mix is older than Moreton Bay, while the new development areas are well south of the current urban footprint. Buying the right property in Logan is possible, but you need to do careful research and not simply rely on the 'potential' of the area to drive growth.
Logan and Ipswich will have the highest percentage of new housing construction, which should keep prices affordable and enable population growth. However, due to the amount of new supply and the disadvantages of their location, both areas are likely to underperform the rest of Brisbane.
IPSWICH
Located to the west of the Brisbane, Ispwich is a separate entity to the Brisbane metro area, and has its own distinct CBD. It will see the greatest future population and housing growth; the population is forecast to triple in the next 25 years. The region consists of the Ipswich centre and surrounding suburbs, the Royal Australian Air Force base of Amberley, and the newer development areas of Springfield Lakes, Redbank Plains and Ripley. The area has decent road connections in the form of the M7 and M5 motorways, as well as two heavy rail lines to Ipswich and Springfield Lakes. It is, however, relatively isolated from the major economic centres of South-East Queensland, including the Brisbane CBD, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
Ipswich has a wide range of affordable modern housing options, and with the continuing development in the area, this is likely to remain the case. This combination of high supply and low demand relative to the more attractive parts of Brisbane will limit price growth in the future. In order to maximise your chances of growth, buying property at or below the median price, and near to infrastructure, shops and amenity will be very important.
HOW DO WE HELP BRISBANE PROPERTY BUYERS?
We help clients to buy high-quality properties in Brisbane, either to live in or to invest. We're a little different to your average buyers agent, however. We provide specific, tailored services to address the gaps you may have in your property buying process. These include:
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As a property buyer in Brisbane, there are a number of important questions you might be asking yourself:
What are the right suburbs to invest in in Brisbane?
Are the inner suburbs better than the outer suburbs?
Which suburbs in my price range have the best future growth prospects, based on future job, income, and infrastructure growth?
Where are the nicest parts of Brisbane to live?
Should I buy traditional house and land, a townhouse or an apartment?
Where will the be an oversupply of properties in the future, and where will there a scarcity?
What type of design and construction type will cause me the least problems in the future?
If you'd like help getting answers to these questions, we can work with you to develop an independent and detailed purchasing strategy for the Brisbane market, tailored to your price point and criteria.
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Successfully buying a property can take up a lot of time and stress. Property buying tasks include:
Researching available properties
Contacting real estate agents
Inspecting properties
Determining a property's value
Conducting due diligence
Making offers
Obtaining finance
Organising Building and Pest Inspections and Insurance
Working with a conveyancer/solicitor
Organising a property manager/tenants (for investment properties)
As Licensed Buyers Agents in Brisbane, we can help streamline these tasks and take much or all of the burden off you. We can help you shortlist properties, conduct all the dealings with real estate agents (you certainly won't miss doing that!), conduct inspections with you or on your behalf, rapidly complete the required due diligence on target properties in Brisbane, help you navigate the offer and contract process in Queensland, and dramatically reduce the administration required by you during the property purchase. You'll save time, reduce stress and remain in complete control throughout the entire process.
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Technology is moving fast in the property industry. For most property buyers, who will only buy a handful of properties in their lifetimes, keeping pace with the latest technology and systems can be almost impossible. As professional property buyers, our job is to utilise the rapid advances in techology and systems to help you buy high-quality properties. Here are some of the technology systems we integrate into our buying process:
Realestate.com.au/Domain (Properties on the Market, Investor Data)
Pricefinder/RP Data (Property and Suburb Data)
SQM Research (Suburb and Property Market Data)
Queensland Government Statisticians Office (Suburb Data, Regional Demographics, Building Approvals and Future Supply)
Brisbane City Council Interactive Mapping (Zoning Data, Flood, Future City Planning)
Location Score (Current Supply and Demand, Property Market Data)
Walk Score (Property and Suburb Convenience Score)
Microburbs (Street and Suburb Data)
Queensland Globe (Land Valuations)