Moving into Brisbane inner city

Well, originally I was a Sydneysider and moved to Brisbane in the mid 90s, so have a reasonable perspective of both cities. Have to remember that Sydney has always been expensive. What struck me about Brisbane when I first went there was how friendly everybody was - and it's still a very friendly place today.

Sydney is quite tribal and insular, as a big city, the travelling is too far and people stick to their own areas, whereas Brisbane is much less tribal, people will go across town to visit friends, and regularly go into the city centre / South Bank etc. People in Sydney tend not to go in the CBD on weekends to hang-out (probably more so now than before), but Brisbane is no problem to go into the CBD / Southbank area to hang-out, ride a bike, walk along the river, meet-up for a coffee etc.

Sydney is "180 degrees, well maybe 200 degrees" shaped, whereas Brisbane is a bit inland and almost "360 degree, well Pacman shaped", so you get a relatively lot more property concentrically around the CBD at the 5km, 10km, 15km, 20km mark than you do in Sydney.

From a property perspective it's much more "homogeneous" in that sense. A good property in Hawthorne / Bulimba is as good a property in say Chelmer/Graceville as in say Ascot/Clayfield, as in Ashgrove/Paddo/Red Hill etc. In that sense, it's a bit harder to make a mistake in suburbs at the right distances, that are nice and where people like to live.

There are a lot of high rise developments in Brisbane, I was taken in by one such in the 90s close to the city (because I had a Sydney perspective). It took years for it to go up and finally sold it, but properties in nice suburbs went up a lot in that time. You have to remember that in 90s/00s and until recently Brisbane was booming, however, it's lost its mojo a bit now and the other cities Sydney/Melbourne have had their long overdue catch-up.

The govt on both sides are a little ineffective at the moment in QLD, but eventually it should get its act together (hopefully). I saw another post on this forum, a person from Melbourne, who commented how much things had change in the last 5 years. Brisbane has become more diverse, catching up in its cafe culture (new thing is laneway culture, small bars that can accommodate 60 people etc), and this is changing the vibe of the city.

From a property perspective, one can live in a very nice house, reasonably close to the CBD for $1m, which would be 3 to 4 times that in Sydney, but there's still quite a lot of opportunity for houses out a bit further, and townhouses / units in good areas. I'll take Norman Park for example, because I know it well. There are houses on the Brisbane River worth millions, but you can buy 2 bedroom apartments in the suburb in the $300K and $400K bracket.

So if one is looking for property closer to the city and is on a budget, look for suburbs with million dollar houses and check the unit prices - you will be amazed on the relative differences and often good value. People like to live in the nice suburbs.

Note in closing, as mentioned in other posts, when I say Brisbane, I mean the Brisbane LGA area. Areas like Logan, Ipswich, Moreton Bay LGA are different environments, and I cannot comment on these.

 

Not to bad for art deco and walk up appartments still at reasonable prices, houses however you will need deep pockets

 

Beat me to it

 

Hi OP
If you want to live really close and it sounds like you will need to get an apartment the problem is that apartments oversupply and the situation is quite bad so therefore what you need to do if you want to buy an apartment is buy an old one in a six pack unrenovated and that will be the best you can do to insulate against apartment prices going nowhere for about 10 years.
Also art deco apartments will be more resilient. They have the high ceilings and the feel of a home but you were going to pay more for those. There's not many around mostly they are in New Farm.
Any sort of modern apartment in a large complex is an absolute no no.

Nocookies

 

Beautiful summary. I think as a Migrant (International or Interstate), we appreciate this City a lot. I suspect I know a lot more about this city than many of my local friends. The same could probably be said with my home-city LOL.

Without being political, I just hope the authorities will do the right thing by the business people. As it is, it is quite a lot of red tape already with three levels of government. But the best news is Brisbane City Council is very big, the biggest in Australia in fact. So it's pretty easy to move suburb to suburb, and a lot of things are quite consistent. Unlike in VIC for example, tiny councils with only a few suburbs. I am a big fan of BCC and always pleased that they have very good customer service.

 

Out of curiosity, where can you look up delinquency rates online??

 

Your knowledge about Brisbane is amazing. Get ready for "Order of Australia" award

 

More than that, BCC has been ambitious in its growth and initiatives.
They have made it clear that Sydney/Melbourne are not going to have a clear duopoly on most industries going forward. (like they have in the past) Sydney /Mel will still be the top 2 dogs going forward, but Brisbane will be a viable alternative to them. Give it another 5-7 years of progressive improvements and it should by then be able to knock on their door.
This will result in large amounts of cg. Invest wisely to capitalise on this.

 

As I mentioned before, unlike living in Sydney, in Brisbane you do drive all over to visit friends, colleagues, associates for BBQs, coffee, lunch/dinner, or try out new/favourite cafes / restaurants, visit farmers markets, go to parks, ride your bike around, and the like and hence you get to see all these things (particularly like riding say from West End around the river to New Farm is great). As a person who has an interest in property, you take in the mental note of what's happening. So it just comes naturally.

 

Spot On

 

We moved to Brissy late last year after a lifetime on the North Shore/lower North shore and a brief stint on the Central Coast of NSW.

Gawd but I love this city!! We live in Bulimba (inner East on the river) and it is gorgeous, this whole city that I have seen is amazing and such value and dispite high prices (comparatively) the inner river side suburbs both North and South are wonderful for lifestyle and livability.

Morningside has both good and not so good sides, you want to be on the Hawthorne side east of Wynnum Rd, or in the Norman Park/Camp Hill areas. Cannon Hill is directly under a flight path with one every 5 minutes on approach. Coorparoo/Greenslopes is very maybe like Leichhart or Marrickville with a mix of lovely old Queenslanders, crappy 60's units and new developments, gets planes directly overhead, but they are a little higher.

I believe the Southern Bay side areas are incredibly undervalued right now. We are about to buy in that area having spent the last 9 months exploring options.

Do be aware that the inner city especially area is already affected by plane noise (no curfew like Sydney we get woken up regularily at 3am by international flights taking off, but not a million of them and not all the time) and that in 2020 a new parallell runway is opening that will massively affect the very best areas of Brisbane unfortunately... New Farm, Wooloongaba/Coorparoo/Greenslopes/East Brisbane, CBD, Bulimba, Hawthorne, Ascot, Hamilton will all be hugely affected.

Hence why we are not buying on the river as much as we literally think it's the best place we have ever lived!!!

 

A lot of people get used to it. I too have some airplance noise and have adapted to it, but can understand why it may be frustrating...however, I would much rather have a busy airport than not, and if that means more airplane noise, then so be it.

 

Indeed they do, plenty paying Millions to live directly under flight paths in Sydney for example. But there you at least have a curfew to sleep at night!

But it's not for us, and I suspect not what a lot of Brisbanites want or are expecting. But I could be wrong of course

 

Dunno...but I think you may be wrong...these are very popular suburbs ( and all indications is that they will continue to be- demand far outpaces supply in these areas) and i have not heard anyone who lives in these areas complain of airplane noise, nor be dissuaded to these areas because they are next to the airport ( which obviously brings noise with it). I dont think its a big consideration for most city/near city dwellers. I could be wrong on this, but given the consistent demand these areas are commanding, despite more flights, it doesnt seem to be a big issue.

 

I know, they are really lovely suburbs and hugely popular, but you *have* just heard someone who lives here and loves an inner city life say they don't like the current noise and couldn't contemplate it being much worse - me lol

We literally only stumbled over this info about the second runway last weekend whilst househunting in the area, an agent casually mentioned this second parallell runway and how it is going to be directly overhead our fave area of Bulimba/Hawthorne ... I have since tracked down the acutal plan from Brisbane Airport Corp and it is going to be very impactful on these areas.

Locals who own in these regions that I have spoken to have no idea this is heading their way.

Of course many will not care you are right, but we do care
which is why we are not buying into these areas despite adoring them.

Here is the relevant pic of arrivals for example, before and after.... btw I am aware that it says 2060 on the page heading, however if you read the document it says that this is how it is going to be from 2020 so only 3 years away...


CURRENT arrivals, we are only minorly impacted by generally smaller planes never international flights.



FUTURE ...



Yeah I know lots won't care, but it is important to get the info out there that this is happening, so other nooobs to Brissy like us don't get caught with something they are unaware of.

 

Fair point.
There is no doubt that brisbane airport wants more flights...and looks very much like they will get them.
The qantas, china airlines, singapore airlines upgraded flights ( all in the last month or so) announcements show where this is heading.
They are buildign the second runway to cater for more traffic as you mention.
Also, there is an aviation fund ( can google it) that 'entices' more flights, especially international.
This is what i mentioned in another thread about how brisbane is attempting to be more connected to the world and sees itself as a gateway city ( to asia especially and n.america). The recent announcements have highlighted that Brisbane attempts to put mexico on notice- there will soon be a new player in town; in progress and it is certainly progressing.

I will make a prediction here: in the not too distant future, expect a carrier from India to fly into brisbane, also expanded air canada/a US carrier, Qatar airways ( currently in negotiation). By the end of the year we should see at least some of this come to fruition.

 

Sydney is building a brand new airport - possibly one that's 24/7 with no curfews.....but that doesn't guarantee maintenance or elevation of its status.

 

Can't draw the parallel. Sydney is over twice the size of Brisbane. Even small improvements to Brisbane make a huge difference. Not so for larger cities.
For example, even if NYC built another 3 airports, it's status isn't going to change.

 

Queensland Crime Statistics - Queensland Police News

 

Thank you!