QLD Where to buy in Brisbane

Everywhere.

But houses only.

 

Really helpful advice from people on this forum - thank you.


I liked the idea of being near a CBD because there will always be demand to maintain value, rent, and finding renters.

I am concerned about the idea of getting a place 35km out.
Is there really enough demand this far out of the city to maintain value rises and finding tenants at competitive prices?

I know there is an over supply of apartments in Brisbane and apartment prices at looking to even drop a little over the next year or two but do you think I am wrong to think that demand is ever growing in a limited space such as an apartment within about 6km from the CBD and the current lower demand from excess supply will come back and catch up to keep in reasonable line with normal city prices?

 

Currently Brisbane house prices are forecasted to go up something like 4%.
Units are forecasted to go down 3 or 4%.
Do you want to buy something likely to go down in value?

Reason for buying a house (on a parcel of land) is you get both a land component and a building component. Over time, the land component is the part that tends to increase in value. Generally speaking, land appreciates, buildings depreciate.

What will happen if you buy an apartment is that over time more and more will be built where existing houses previously used to be, keeping a lid on unit price growth. But well located houses will become rarer. Meanwhile your unit will become old stock. That's why there's a preference for houses.

 

Heaps of land was rezoned a couple of years ago in the 10km ring (or so), most of it has yet to be developed (I own one such site, and my clients have picked up a bunch of them too) so the supply of medium density stuff will continue to flow outside of the CBD for some years to come, IMO.

With a long enough time horizon, apartments will likely trend up but you could be waiting a while for any reasonable growth.

 

That's a bit simplistic as older units tend to send at a discount to the new apartments. Also I saw some data that said while high rise units value are dropping low rise units are rising.

I would take a unit in a block of 6 in a blue chip suburb over anything more than 20K out

 

There's a limit to how expensive old units can go.... but decently located house on land will keep rising till its profitable to make higher density. Keep in mind the price to buy for houses isn't that much of a premium over units and townhouses. In Sydney I know a guy who bought a 500k townhouse when houses in the area were going for 600k. Now the townhouses are worth roughly 900k. Houses are 1.3/1.4 mill. Better growth on the houses.

 

I agree not to buy badly located units. One in northlakes would be pointless. But when you can pick up a unit for 400 in clayfield where most houses go over a mil there's some value there and in other well to do suburbs. Much so than a house and land in a future ghetto in park ridge

 

I'd say the cheapest suburb within BCC for houses would be Ellen Grove, which neighbours Forest Lake, and is over the motorway from Gailes/Goodna. There's pockets of acreage in there too. Having been through there myself, there's certainly no real appeal and is low socio, but i have wondered what happens when eventually the acreage properties sell up and new development happens? Surely they'll be more supply in the area but they'll want more rents anyway. I've wondered if it could raise the profile of such a suburb.

The other options listed I've also been considering myself. Though I have Inner Ipswich on the list to. I've considered Kallangur but has the horse already bolted too far? It's a bit closer to the Brissie CBD than Inner Ippy, but travel times by car or train are similar. Seems to be a bit more value at the bottom end and character appeal of some of the inner Ippy suburbs seems nicer to me + with CBD redevelopment happening it will have it's own modern CBD surrounded by old school character. Seems to reflect what people love about inner Brisbane suburbs/houses? .

The other Suburbs mentioned south are substantially closer/faster to the Brisbane CBD to the CBD vs some of the bottom end north offerings. The north appeal I figure comes if you net something close to the bay/water.

 

You can actually pick up a 2 bed unit in Clayfield for low $300's (away from a main road).
6/43 Noble Street Clayfield Qld 4011 - Unit for Sale #124070162 - realestate.com.au
5/42 Alma Road Clayfield Qld 4011 - Unit for Sale #124301318 - realestate.com.au
Just like other suburbs within 5k's of the city north and south of the river, 6pack brick units haven't had any decent growth for nearly 10 years.. and they won't have any growth over the next 10 years.. once the oversupply of stock eventually gets absorbed, developers will start developing blocks they've been sitting on and properties that have been rezoned and will continue to get rezoned. The supply for apartments is almost infinite, the supply of well located decent sized blocks is finite.

 

^this, I've looked into similar small unit complex options in other suburbs of similar distance too, many have sat on market for ages, sell for substantially under asking and growth history doesn't look good. While I appreciate one owns a greater land percentage than large unit complexes, with the inner supply coming online it still doesn't look promising.

 

And more DAs for big towers keep getting approved. Things have wound back but still plenty of ambitious large towers.
As a (almost) CBD resident I think one benefit to Brisbane unit oversupply is that it will bring some life into the city. All of the thousands of people living in apartments around the city will want something to do. Although having said that, they will still cluster in places like the Valley, West End, Milton (the next 'West of Montague'. Maybe they wont be going back into the CBD at night?

 

I agree with your last sentence. But the point is there's a difference between a house block in the 10K ring and one 30 K's out.

People want to be by amenities, I'll take the unit thanks. Know someone who has done very well recently on their ascot unit despite portside down the road. Sold up to empty Nesters. Will be plenty more of that.

 

I get what you're saying but I still think you have to go really far out before a house becomes a worse investment than a unit.
With a house you have options

 

I'm certainly not saying a unit is the best investment going, but i'll take a blue chip suburb unit over a house on the fringes personally.

Also lumping all types of unit together is over simplified, just like lumping a renovated Queenslander in Windsor is a different proposition to a 70's brick veneer in Aspley

 

Hi Anthony,

Oops, it was getting a bit late on Sunday so apologies about the way the reply was structured!

I know heaps of knowledgeable forumites have already helped out with your question so hopefully you have arrived at your own conclusion on what is best for you. For me personally, I prefer a house with land where as Gockie mentioned land appreciates in value over time. The other thing with house is that I can do something smart about it to add value, such as a cosmetic renovation or adding an additional bedroom in order to manufacture equity rather than sit back and pray for price to grow

 

Thanks @LeMU

Yeah I have gotten some very useful responses from this thread. I am glad people speak their opinion and don't always agree - I can get a better overall picture about the very different situation in Brisbane vs Sydney.
In Sydney there is so little land supply for the enormous demand that even an apartment will never stop appreciating (even 30km out from the Sydney CBD 1bd apartments have gone up an avg of 9%/yr for the last 8 years), but it seems that it just isn't the same in Brisbane.

 

You can buy a house on 650m2 in Logan with zoning for townhouses 25klm to the CBD only 30 minutes drive for around 280-290k not in a flood zone...

 

Are they still close to 6% yield?

 

Any links Richard to sold properties?

 

Would be very close yes.