Brisbane Joins World’s Top Price Growth Cities

Brisbane, the capital city with the fastest-growing property prices in Australia, has rocketed to 10th on the global list of annual capital city residential rises.

According to Knight Frank’s global residential cities index, which tracks the movement of average residential prices across 150 cities worldwide, Brisbane has shot from 89th position at the same point last year to now be in the top 10.

The average annual price growth across all 150 cities was 11.5 per cent, the highest rate since the third quarter of 2004. 

Australian cities outperformed that average, recording 18.3 per cent annual growth with Brisbane the frontrunner after surging by 28.4 per cent for the year to the March quarter 2022.

Knight Frank head of residential research Michelle Ciesielski told The Urban Developer activity had been intensified across the first quarter given state borders had reopened encouraging east coast interstate investors and those Brisbane homeowners holding off for a more competitive buyer pool.

“Brisbane is unlikely to be immune to moderating market sentiment as the official cash rate is repositioned to support the economy and the cost of living further impacts households,” Ciesielski said.

“Although we still feel Brisbane is well-positioned to draw more residents to the city, given the relative price point compared to larger Australian cities, and attracting more people conscious of their wellbeing and how they spend their leisure time.” 

Ciesielski said Australia’s mainstream residential price performance had been heavily influenced by smaller cities and regional areas, which have continued in 2022 to record solid price growth.

“This has been due to the relocation of families and digital nomads to more affordable locations, investors returning to the market seeking a better rental yield and by others buying holiday homes for their retirement plans in the coming years. 

“Australia’s three best-performing cities for annual price growth at the end of the first quarter—Brisbane, Hobart and Adelaide—still have a $200,000 buffer between the median value of their city and Australia, attracting first home buyers and investors from across the country.

“These top three ranked cities attracted an elevated population growth against the Australian average in 2021 and this was felt most in the rental space, given many people moving to a new area tend to rent before making a purchase.”

The Knight Frank global residential cities index

While some cities are still poised for further price growth, others will increase in value moderately, some locations will languish, and a few areas will experience falling property values, based on local supply and demand.

According to Corelogic, prices in Sydney and Melbourne have now reversed, retreating by -1.0 per cent and -0.7 per cent respectively in May, while Canberra also recorded its first monthly decline since July 2019.

Brisbane remains one of the nation's strongest housing markets, with housing values rising a further 0.8 per cent in May, taking the three-month growth rate to 4.6 per cent which is the fastest quarterly growth rate in housing values amongst the capital cities.

In the three months to March, Brisbane’s median house price has cracked the million dollar mark based on almost 3000 sales.

Brisbane suburbs to join the ‘million-dollar median house club’ based on sales include Parkinson, Sunnybank, Mount Gravatt East and Upper Mount Gravatt on the south side, and Upper Kedron, McDowall, Stafford and Stafford Heights on the north side.

REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said Queensland’s property market had performed positively so far this year and the stage was set for continued growth.

“While this may be sombre news for some, this still represents relative affordability compared to southern states. Arguably our capital city has been long overdue for its time in the sun after years of steady, but modest, growth,” Mercorella said. 

Mercorella said “crystal ball” predictions of where Brisbane’s property market was headed were not uncommon but hadn't always come to fruition.

“Our state still has all the fundamental ingredients for continued growth—a booming population, very low supply, strong and cashed-up buyer demand, relative affordability and low interest rates,” she said. 

“So even as we face more interest rate rises, we expect this will take time to noticeably impact buyer’s pockets and sales prices, and in the meantime, the clear supply shortage will continue to tip the scales in favour of sellers, as buyers compete to secure a property.”

In Greater Brisbane, houses are now being snapped up within 13 days on average, seeing contracts signed in less than two weeks, with the fastest selling regions for houses in Moreton Bay where homes are transacting within 10 days, Ipswich in 11 days and Redland in 12 days.