Is it too late to buy property in Brisbane

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Have You Really Missed the Investment Boat?

Having recently caught up with Tiff, the head of acquisitions in Queensland at You&Me Personalised Property Services Brisbane, I wanted to share some insights about what’s happening in the Brisbane property market. As someone who’s been actively watching Queensland’s property market and helping first home buyers and investors, I found her expert take on current trends particularly valuable for anyone considering buying a property in Greater Brisbane.

The Big Question

Is It Really Too Late to Invest?

It’s interesting how often this fundamental question comes up in conversations with fellow property investors, friends, and family looking to enter the real estate market. They often ask: “Have I missed the boat?“, concerned about Brisbane property prices and market dynamics. The answer we usually give is: if you’d bought in 1960 close to the city, you’d be smiling now, and if you’d purchased in 1980, you’d still be pretty pleased with your decision.

Heath Bassett and Tiff Collins-Our Brisbane Buyers Agents — Heath Bassett and Tiff Collins chatting about Brisbane’s property market and what’s ahead for 2024

The Long-Term Perspective

But here’s the crucial point that often gets overlooked when looking at residential real estate: homes and investment properties have always been, and will continue to be, a long-term game. It’s not about finding the best time to buy or timing the market perfectly. Historical data from capital cities consistently shows that property values still hold strong over time, which is why it remains one of Australia’s most reliable vehicles for capital growth and wealth through independent investing.

Market Performance

The Covid Effect on Brisbane Property

Let me share some statistics about Queensland that genuinely surprised me during our conversation. Since the onset of Covid, the housing market has experienced unprecedented growth in the rental market:

The median property prices have surged by an impressive 70%
Townhouse and unit prices have followed suit with a robust 50% increase, with strong rental yield potential

These figures significantly outperform other property markets around Australia, with the national average at 5%.

City Development

Brisbane’s Evolution into a World-Class City

Standing near the impressive new Queen’s Wharf development in the CBD, which is rapidly changing Brisbane’s skyline, Tiff explained how the city is undergoing a remarkable transformation. What was once considered just another affordable property destination is quickly evolving into a world-class city, with major infrastructure projects including the Brisbane Metro and enhanced public transport connecting Brisbane Airport to South Brisbane.

The Olympic Impact

The 2032 Olympics represent far more than just a sporting event – they’re a catalyst for massive city-wide transformation throughout 2024 and beyond.

If you live in or regularly travel to Brisbane, you may have noticed:

Major infrastructure developments reshaping outer suburbs and middle-ring suburbs
Significant job creation attracting young families
Strong population growth through interstate migration
Growing demand for housing across Brisbane suburbs

Market Dynamics

Supply and Demand Challenges

One of the most interesting aspects of our conversation centred around what Tiff describes as Brisbane’s “unaffordability crisis.” However, this isn’t your typical affordability issue, it’s fundamentally a supply problem. With continued migration from Sydney and Melbourne (driven by lifestyle choices and the Gold Coast appeal), combined with limited supply of new development pipelines, basic economic principles suggest stronger price growth is likely to continue.

Market Outlook

While the days of 20% annual increases might be behind us, the market in 2024 remains decidedly positive for the next 3 years. Brisbane is expected to see increased borrowing capacity drive market activity. Each rate cut will increase borrowing capacity, typically improving rental yield and driving capital growth through increased buyer competition.

Strategic Considerations

Timing Your Investment

If you’re a homebuyer entering the market, or looking to invest in property in Brisbane, timing deserves careful consideration. While waiting for prices to drop might seem a good idea, historical data suggests that properties often outperform. With QLD Olympic countdown ticking, investment property opportunities in middle ring suburbs could provide significant returns.

Conclusion

Looking Forward

Based on my discussion with Tiff and personal observations from Sydney to the Gold Coast corridor, property values appear likely to perform strongly. The suburbs to watch extend from the city center to the outer suburbs, where growth in Queensland continues to attract interstate migration. While you may have missed the initial Covid-era opportunities, 2025 could mark the beginning of the next growth phase.

Final Thoughts

What’s your experience with Brisbane’s property market? Have you noticed the transformation from affordable price point properties to premium real estate? We’d love to hear your thoughts and insights.

Remember, while this analysis is based on expert insights and market observations, it’s essential to conduct thorough research and seek professional advice before making any investment decisions. The property market can be complex, and what works for one investor might not suit another’s circumstances or goals.

Get in touch with our buyer’s agency if you need help or would like to discuss property opportunities.

Video Transcript

See transcript

Heath
G’day everyone, it’s Heath Bassett, the co-founder and buyer’s agent at You&Me Personalised Property Services: the buyer's agency made for you, here with the wonderful Tiff, head of acquisitions in Queensland.

Great. Hello. A big question we always get, you know, across any large uptake in property or increase in value and it's: Have I missed the boat? It's one of the big questions we get in my factful but comical answer to that is always, well, if you bought in 1960, you'd be happy now. If you bought in 1980, you'd still be happy.

My point being is probably the long term game don't come into property expecting to make it overnight. Keep it for long term. And historically, property doesn't lose value. But more importantly, you know, people want to get in without losing short-term money. So we're talking about what we think of the property predictions here in Brisbane over the course of the next year or two years, whatever it may be.

And also what it's done since Covid, because obviously that's a big talking point as well. Australia has gone up since Covid. The world's gone up since Covid, as we know. But what specifically has Brisbane done over the last four and a half years? Yeah.
Tiff
So we've had a growth of around 70% in the median house price.
And it's been quite high for units as well. Brand 50% growth in units, which is very, very strong too. So absolutely huge growth.
Heath
Yeah. So we would all love to have gone in in December 2019. But the reality is still time. You know what, what are we thinking for the next one two years Tiff?
Tiff
Well, the thing is, Brisbane started out as a more affordable city, of course, and, Sydney and Melbourne and Brisbane is on its way to become a world city.

So we're standing here with Queen's Wharf in the background. So I'll leave the gambling to all the people in the casino. But for me, I think we've still got a lot of really strong factors that point towards good continued growth for Brisbane. So yeah
Heath
So things like, you know, let's talk about Brisbane itself.
I mean, we've got the Olympics coming up. That’s huge and creates a lot of jobs, a lot of immigration on top of tourism. You know, I come to Brisbane maybe once every three months. And the last time I was in Brisbane, this wasn't really there. So I'm saying this, I'm going to go to the casino tonight, but, this wasn't here last time.
This is fantastic. The connection between the city and the South. Yeah. It's just phenomenal. You know, and you've got the weather on top, so why wouldn't you want to live here?
Tiff
Absolutely. Look, we're still seeing a lot of inquiry come out of Sydney and Melbourne. A lot of people that are still wanting to make the decision to move as a result of lifestyle play.
So whilst we're not seeing the same migration interstate migration that we did off the back of Covid, we're still seeing continued migration from the southern states. In addition to that, we've got obviously a huge crisis here, unaffordability crisis. And so that's continuing to drive up prices because, you know, supply demand, we're struggling to deliver new product to market.

So that's either creating additional constraint in terms of the supply that we've got to actually meet all of these new sort of occupants, new households that are forming here in Queensland. So whilst we aren't going to see the 20% increases that we've had on year on year, we are still going to, in my opinion, see some really strong good growth for Queensland.

National average sits at about 5% and we've had growth of 20% and upwards of that for some suburbs. So there's still excellent opportunity to buy here in Brisbane. There's still plenty of money to be made. And my suggestion would be to do it as far out from the Olympic Games as possible so that you can ride that, sort of quite rapidly ride the wave.

And really get that uplift. As all of these infrastructure projects start coming to fruition and the games start to become a more real thing.
Heath
Yeah. I mean, it's simple economics, right? If you take everything away, it's supply and demand, supply and demand, it doesn't matter what else is happening. If there is low supply and high demand, guess what?

Property goes up. Vice versa. Goes on the other side. If there's high supply and low demand, this is what Melbourne's experiencing right now. You know it's going to go the opposite. So you know we're talking about inflation. Inflation still at 3.9% they want it 2 to 3. What does that mean. Predictions are that I think there's going to be another two.

Well another there's going to be 2 or 3 interest rate cuts over the next year. What does that mean? Means that the banks can lend you more money. You can afford 700,000. Now you can borrow 700,000. Not now. The basis points go down. You're able to borrow more and go down again. Guess what? You're able borrow more. What does that do?

Puts more demand pressure on the supply. And you got more buyers in the market trying to accumulate the same amount of property that's already here. Obviously there's going to be buildings, but they take a year. They take two years. When new suburbs come in again, new projects come in, they take a year, they take two years.

So over the next one year, I just see that there's going to be another bit of a spike in the market as well. And, you know, we'll be in for a nice little show to the Olympics.
So guys, if you want to know more, if you want to know more about Brisbane, Tiff's your lady, if you want to reach out to us, you can contact us via social media, phone, cup and string if you need to, but, we would love to see you.

We'd love to hear from you how we can help you. And until next time, happy investing.

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Heath Bassett

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Property Buyer's Agent and Co-Founder at You&Me Personalised Property Services

Buy property in Perth and Brisbane with confidence.

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Is it too late to buy property in Brisbane