Moving into Brisbane inner city

Hi all,

Sorry a newbie here. I am planning to buy my first IP in Brisbane. I am looking something I can easily rent to tenants for 2-3 years, with option to move there eventually myself (Sydney is way beyond my financial abilities). The main point is to buy somewhere I would be ok living once (and if) I move from Sydney, somewhere where there is less bogan (excuse the punt) and more urban, artisty environment. Being able to rent it out for few years at good yield is also an important variable.

I have heard a lot of good things about Coorparoo, Morningside and Greeslopes. With the view that there is a potential of apartment oversupply in the area, I am in two minds:

a) wait and buy a 2br appartment, with the view of the potential drop in prices due to oversupply
b) buy a townhouse in the area and surrounds towards the end of this year (November).

Houses are beyond my price range. Any suggestions and ideas would be highly appreciated.

 

Are you sure houses are beyond your price range?

 

From what I seen they are around 800K... thats a bit too much

 

I am a fan of that side of town. Morningside you can get some cheaper houses. Coorparoo has large older style units in abundance.

 

When you say "inner Brisbane", will assume you mean the inner 5km ring or so. The good thing about Brisbane, is that generally all the suburbs in that 5km ring (stretch to say 6km / 7km are good).

The first property I bought and lived in, in Brisbane was a townhouse in Norman Park. Norman Park and surrounding areas are excellent. Look for areas that have a solid mix of houses, townhouses and units. Be wary of suburbs with a majority of tower style units. At the more budget end, units in "6 packs" are great because they are solid, simple, and easy to add value by some simple renovations.

Also suburbs on railway lines, BCC bus way routes, City Cat are good.

Some suggested areas:
Southside:
- Norman Park, Coorparoo, Morninside, Bulimba, Balmoral, Hawthorne. Some of those areas can be expensive but they have a mixture. Oxford st Bulimba is renowned for its cafe culture, but Coorparoo is undergoing a lot of change now, same as Morningside. Great areas.

- Greenslopes, Annerley, Wollongabba, Stones Cnr, East Brisbane. Green slopes, Annerley have been solid areas, the others emerging. For a long time W'gabba, East B, Stones Cnr have been quite underdeveloped but is changing now. There area a lot of high rises and developments - need to be careful. Also consider Dutton Park, Yeronga etc. will benefit from Cross River Rail. Avoid Kangaroo Point - too many high rise, too long to grow.

West:
- West end, Highgate Hill, South Brisbane. Very eclectic, but many developments. Prices have come down but vacancy high, perhaps if you like this area better to buy when you move here.

- Paddington, Milton, Rosalie, Auchenflour, Toowong. Also very nice areas, Corro drive can get busy. Paddo is expensive. Milton / A'flour has had flooding for those close to the river. Some great cafe precincts, and good inner city vibe. There are a lot of new high rise in Milton.

North:
- The north side has many great areas, probably too many. When prices move, it is usually the Northside first. Hersten, Kelvin Grove, Windsor, Wilston, Newmarket, Alderley, Enoggera. For townhouses, Newmarket has a good range.

Others:
- Clayfield, Ascot. Clayfield has a lot of units, Ascot has million dollar plus homes but surprisingly a lot of affordable units. Ascot has lost a bit of shine compared to funky areas like New Farm but with developments near the river (Hamilton) may get it back. Racecourse Rd is well known cafe st.

- New Farm / Tenerife. These are nice areas, people like them. Lots of units especially Tenerife, really need to do your home work, also expensive.

- Fortitude Valley, Bowen Hills, along Gympie Rd, not a big fan. Always best to find suburbs that appeal to families as well.

You should come up to Brisbane, drive around and have a look.

 

Hmm seems unusual that someone from Sydney would think that a property 10km from CBD is too far away, and I understand you can get 500-600k for 10-12km from CBD?

Also going 10-12km out, you hopefully can get something big enough (land wise) to put a granny flat (or even better, subdivide and put another house), you get a whole ton of money from it forever after in both capital growth and cashflow over a 2bd apartment - you get to have your cake and eat it too.

Not sure why you would choose a 2bd apartment over this unless you were already rich and had no need to increase your wealth/income.

If you are really set on being within 5km, is it an option to purchase a property for investment and renting an apartment to live in when you go there?

 

A newbie from Mexico wants to throw some pesos north of the border... Sound familiar...right this way sir

 

Granny Flats, those that can be rented to unrelated parties, are currently not permissible in the Brisbane City Council LGA. Other LGA's such as Logan and Ipswich permit (but that's not 10km - 12km from Brisbane CBD). Properties that have subdivision or splitter potential, are now quite expensive in the 10-12km ring. Older houses on 405sqm or 607sqm lots are quite reasonable, and there would be renovation or knock down / rebuild potential. However, a well sited property like a townhouse in an inner area would also have good growth potential if the desire was to be closer to the CBD.

 

@Noobieboy , welcome to Brisbane!

Good on you to have a very clear goal. The area you mentioned are my fav. Also I love Southsidemainly for theBuzway. If you narrow down your criteria more, eg set a price range, I'm sure you'd find it sooner than later. Feel free to ask any questions anytime.

Just one advice for now: if you end up with a property with Onsite Manager, do consider using them as your PM.

 

There are houses within that price range -but most not all flood and depending of your idea of risk would over the next few years will do a lot better then all the new multi level units from Coorparoo into Stones corner-Buranda that are still to be built..Rocklea..imho..

 

I'm a big fan of the new farm area as i lived there for a while! Great place to live if your looking for a great inner city vibe...

 

Yeah I am thinking splitting not granny flat.
Do you know how much land would you need there to be able to split the title into 2?
And how much more would that land cost compared to a 600sqm lot?

 

This is awesome, thank you all. And thank you so much @ORAC and @Pumpkin . So much information. I think I am leaning towards Southside. It seems from the comments here and outside the forum it is a great place to leave. I understand that from investment perspective it might make more sense to buy in the range of 15km or so. I am however looking at place I would enjoy leaving,so capital growth is a distant goal. Norman Park, Coorparoo, Morninside seems like a good place to buy.

My plan is to buy a place for 300K-400K and move there in 2-3 years time. So it must be in a place where I would rather stay, with inner city vibe, educated and professional crowd. Nothing against Ipswich and Logan, but I tend to be in constant disagreement with people from these areas in regards to my world views . Though I have a few friends, who oddly moved to Sydney for the main purpose to escape Ipswich!

There is however an issue of timing. Sydney properties seem to flat-line (awesome), and I have been tracking QLD delinquency rates, which are slowly creeping up. So there is a potential of all that impacting Brisbane prices. I was wondering if the general feel is to buy or wait 4-6 months in a hope that there will be a pullback in property prices?

 

What are your thoughts on Moorooka? I'm looking at a 2-3 bedroom townhouse.

I noticed Moorooka isn't a flood zone (except one small strip).

 

I've looked at how Morooka transformed over the last ten over years.
Used to be full of working class houses, little cottage, 6-pack units or something. Know a lot of people there. They slowly pass on and land was developed into units, apartments, townhouses.
The area has quite a high percentage of immigrants, especially Africans.
Still need to check streets specific for flood. Although your property might be free from flood, your access might not...
Cant think of any remarkable school.
Best feature to me is the train network.
Good bus network, not too far from the city.
Area is pretty flat, not much hills. So don't suppose city view is common.
With that, the price is not as high as other hotspots.

 

Note that you probably need to clarify "inner city vibe", for example Norman Park, Coorparoo, Morningside are great areas, Coorparoo is going through some make-over at the moment, but whilst making a comparison with Sydney is difficult, those suburbs are more "Lane Cove-ish / Middle North Shore" than "Surry Hills-ish". If you are looking for the "café on every corner", then you would be more New Farm, Teneriffe, West End, South Brisbane, Paddington, Rosalie etc.

Having said that, one of the great secrets of Brisbane, that its local communities are great, and there is an emergence of "café streets" all over the city in suburban areas. Whilst in Sydney, out in the burbs its malls, and club-land and often you don't get that café style of precinct. Whereas in Brisbane, it's happening all over. For example, Morningside was pretty suburban and a bit droll, but a cafe "Flour & Chocolate Patisserie" was rated as one of the best pastry shops in Brisbane recently. So whilst you got your Oxford St in Bulimba, Latrobe Tce / Given Tce in Paddo, Boundary St West End, Grey St/Little Stanley in Sth Brisbane, Park Ave Milton, you are getting café sts emerging in further out areas too (e.g. Blackwood St Mitchelton, Kedron Brook Rd Wilston etc). The transformation of Nundah village is another example, Banyo is changing, and you've also got Race Course Rd Ascot, Stone's Corner, along Logan Rd Holland Park, Mt Gravatt is changing, Martha St Coorparoo is well known etc. Hence, unlike Sydney where having that inner-city is aspirational for many, Brisbane allows a greater variety of nice places to live. Hence, don't get too hung up on trying to replicate Sydney in Brisbane, look at the areas on their own merit and you will see far greater and reasonable opportunities, and of course Brisbane has some great coffee roasters Merlo, Campos, Elixir, Di Bella - find out where those guys are selling to see the trend.

 

Great area. Very pricey, though (almost need a Sydney budget.....).

 

In general, 809/810 sqm lots can be subdivided into 2 x 405 sqm lots. Sometimes these 809/810 sqm lots are on two titles hence why they are called "splitter blocks". There are relatively new rules about subdividing 607 sqm lots into 2 x 300 sqm lots if the property is located 200 m walking distance of a zone centre of at least 2000 sqm. (A zone centre is like a say a small shopping area). Haven't seen many of these because probably a little more difficult to find. For 809/810 sqm lots, everybody is onto them at the moment, and not so cheap. As an example, in Everton Park which had a lot of them, several years ago an existing house on a 809/810 sqm lot, you could get for under $500K but now such properties are going for $700K plus. The resultant 405 sqm lot is selling for say $400K plus, so a little bit hard to make some margin in many cases. To make like 10% on a lot, you need to purchase the site minimum 20% below the resultant sales value to make some money. A splitter block doesn't need to pay council contribution charges so a little cheaper to develop in cost, but sales price is often more. A subdivision is a lot more cost. A subdivision can cost up to $100K to do. So start searching of use a BA who specializes in such sites.

 

Geez, @ORAC, you should get a job with Brisbane Tourism. You clearly know a lot about a large number of suburbs, and everywhere sounds amazing

 

There is a lot of townhouse development happening atm in Moorooka, research additional opportunities to compare and contrast yields and CG