QLD Is now a good time to buy in Brisbane?

Recently been indulging in a bit of vicarious property shopping with a relative and her partner considering taking plunge with first home in middle ring northside. Stock being so low is a bit disheartening for them. I think they had a bit of FOMO happening early on in the hunt. I have tried to shift their perspective in the current low stock and uncertain environment - settling for something just because they don't totally hate it might mean missing out on something better later on. I think they are getting a bit more in the 'marathon, not a sprint' mindset in the house hunt.

I have also noticed that in the areas they are looking at, below $550k pickings are very slim despite sale prices and medians in the last 6 months indicating this budget should be able to get them something that might be dated, but still liveable. With a lot of houses currently on the market in that price bracket, once you factor in the scale of more immediate repairs or work needed, you would end up spending more on urgent work than if you could save another $50k for the purchase price. Properties in that next price bracket up are less likely to need the urgent type of work that sub $550k properties often seem to need.

 

If this is for investment, don't buy a unit in Brisbane - at the very worst get a townhouse. They are just not appreciating here like other states.

As for it being a good time to buy - not at all. In Brisbane here there is a massive undersupply of stock on the market which is really distorting things. Bargains are very hard to come by as sellers are just not listing their house until covid passes.

 

Is it a rising market?

In Perth inner city seeing same, however its not rising. Never seen this before, when there is pent up demand prices rise

 

Sure feels like it. Last one I tried to buy two weeks ago had 3 offers submitted prior to the first open home. They ended up running an online bidding process on the Monday after the first open- which had around 10 interested participants. No dice for me. This was BCC circa 10km to CBD.

 

sounds like a boom, interesting

 

Totally agree. We are looking to list IP1 in Brisbane shortly. Houses in our suburb (6km from Brisbane) are going under contract v quickly, but the prices being attained are definitely not rising as they would in a boom. One sold in our street last month, a nice 3.1.1 Qlder on a 506M block Offers over $829K, suburb median is $1.4M. I staked out the open homes (there were 2) and it had well over 15 parties per week by my count. Price achieved was only $815K.

 

Its an interesting phenomena

I spoke to re agent who has been in business for 40 years and said his never seen this before

 

Let me share my story - Bought a house in Stafford 4053.
7km radius North Side of CBD.
First weekend open house on Saturday.
Had 30 parties gone there - I was no. 10 in line.
Never seen such a bad house with so much interest.
On the same weekend, I had to put in multi offer to win it.
It must of worked - I pointed out there was mold, rusty gutter, dampness outside. HAHAHA.

It is a knock down and rebuild house.
I will develop it in a couple of years time.

 

So it came down to highest offer, cash??

 

Yes cash and highest offer.

 

Another question..... when you look at comps did you pay similar price according to recent sales

 

Slightly more.. but it was inline with what was recent sales, but better house that was renovated.
My motivation is slightly different. It is a 20 meters frontage block.

 

Congrats
Significant upside, makes sense

 

It has been like that in Brisbane Pre-covid I want to share. I have been going to open houses since January.

 

In the middle 50th percentile of all sales - yes. Corelogic Data shows this segment of the market has grown in Brisbane even through the worst of the pandemic.

 

I was speaking to a real estate colleague who sells out Brisbane and South. He still thinks its not necessarily a good time to buy due to the lack of supply. Food for thought and only 1 persons opinion.

 

As a current FHB looking on southside ai would agree, not much stock, lots of buyers

 

What do you think?
Yes supply is tight.
But demand is strong.
Multiple buyers for many properties.
Do you think demand will fall away any time soon or do you think there will be a huge influx of supply in the future due to forced selling- specifically in Brisbane?
These are the questions I get asked a lot
I think the best time to buy is when you have stability of income, good financial buffers in place and confidence in your decision. People who try to time the market often get left behind ...
Property is a long term investment and if the fundamentals are right, just because there is low stock, it should not sway a property buyer's decision to act.

 

I've always said this. Especially for a PPOR. If you can buy, then buy. Don't over think it.

 

I'm glad I've had my fill of Brisbane already. Would hate to compete in a warm-hot market.

2011-2013 was just bliss playing in Brisbane. The GC and Sunshine Coast (Noosa etc) was even better around that time.