Brisbane ‘city to watch’ in 2015

The real estate group cited the latest CoreLogic RP Data figures, which show a wide gap in average property values in Brisbane compared to Sydney and Melbourne. Place Estate Agents said this suggests “a period of growth is imminent, despite some uncertainty surrounding the economy heading into the New Year”.

The company said Brisbane’s median house price currently sits 73 per cent lower than Sydney’s, and 33 per cent lower than the price in Melbourne – which is a positive sign for the market.

“When you compare Brisbane to Sydney and Melbourne, which have had those huge price growths over the past couple of years, we’re positioned better than most,” said Place CEO Damian Hackett.

“Brisbane’s housing prices are up 6.2 per cent and apartments are up 4.4 per cent in the last six months, which is the strongest growth we’ve seen for over five years.

“What the latest figures show is that conditions in Brisbane have been strengthening for the past 12 months and we expect this to continue well into 2015.”

Mr Hackett said despite ongoing negative sentiment in the marketplace caused by the economy, unemployment levels and concerns about the federal government’s ability to get the Budget pushed through, real estate markets should continue to flourish thanks to low interest rates.

“Lending conditions have had a significant impact on property in Australia as interest rates have been kept on hold by the Reserve Bank in December for the 16th consecutive month,” he said.

“There has also been some talk of stimulation of the economy in 2015, which will potentially push interest rates down again. I’d expect that it’ll be the low interest rates that will see us drive right through the New Year.

“Therefore, all things considered, I’d expect that barring any huge negative external forces impacting upon us, we’ll have some good, steady growth in Brisbane over the next year.”

Place managing director Judy Goodger agreed and said 2015 would continue to build upon 2014’s solid performance.

“This year was an exciting year for the Brisbane property market with strong results achieved, injecting feelings of confidence back into the market,” she said.

“Demand has been high and we started to see some growth with Brisbane gaining momentum off the back of the big upswings we saw in the southern states.”

Mr Hacket said the amount of properties on the market had started to climb, but the current market still presents good opportunities for both buyers and sellers.

“[The upswing in listings] shows that Brisbane homeowners who have been holding off selling their property have realised that the current market presents a good opportunity to sell and reflects their confidence in the current market,” he said.

“We haven’t seen this volume of transactions happening since 2007.”

Mr Hackett said this was positive news, but had somewhat diluted the property market.

“Our statistics suggest we are less likely to see the 10 to 20 per cent price increase like we’ve seen in Sydney, which is probably a good thing as the rate of growth isn’t sustainable," he said.

“But it is a good and positive message to go forward into the next 12 months with as the buyers are definitely still out there – they just have a bigger pool of properties they can look at.”