Brisbane only capital to grow last month defying national decline

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.” Source: realestate.com.au