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The Property Pack
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Real Estate

The Property Pack

  • Written by Ellen Orton


Brisbane is Australia’s third biggest property market after Sydney and Melbourne. Interest in the area has been picking up over recent years and keen investors have their eyes on many different suburbs. There are investment worthy suburbs all over Brisbane and in areas just outside of it such as in the Logan property market.

 

A lot happened in the property market last year, both in Australia as a whole and in Brisbane specifically. For one, the election win, cuts to interest rates and relaxed lending requirements made an impact on the entire nation. Unfortunately, the Brisbane market itself struggled a bit in 2019. In the first half of the year, dwelling values dropped slightly. Even after the election results, values were generally flat.

 

However, forecasts for 2020 are positive. Analysts from SQM Research, QBE and more expect to see moderate price growth for Brisbane. Domain forecasts a +3% to +5% growth in Brisbane’s house values. However, unit prices are expected to stay the same or increase at a smaller percentage of +2%.

 

One of the biggest reasons for investing in Brisbane over other major capital cities is affordability. Despite the cheaper prices, you’ll still be able to find strong rental yields for both units and houses in many Brisbane suburbs. The market has also been historically more stable compared to the likes of Sydney and Melbourne.

 

Here are five suburbs to look at if you’re hoping to invest in Brisbane this year:

 

  • Kurwongbah is located in the Moreton Bay region of Queensland, about 34km away from the city centre, with a median house price of $660,000 and a gross rental yield of 4.3%

  • Mount Gravatt in Brisbane’s south-east has a median house price of $655,000 with a gross rental yield of 3.6%, and the median unit price is $440,000 with a gross rental yield of +5.0%

  • Highgate Hill is an inner Brisbane suburb with a median gross rental yield of +3.9%, and median unit price of $530,000 after prices advanced +3.9% over the past year

  • Chermside is another inner Brisbane suburb with a slightly higher median house price of $570,000 and a gross rental yield of +3.6%, while the median unit price is $380,000 with a gross rental yield of 5.3%

  • Logan Reserve, located about 30km away from the CBD in the Logan City region, has a gross rental yield of 4.8%, and a median house price of $436,000 after prices advanced +6.22% over the last year

 

The Logan City region has potential to grow this year. As mentioned before, the rental yield in the suburb Logan Reserve is 4.8%, high compared to other areas of Brisbane. The vacancy rate in Logan Reserve has also gone down from 5.1% at the end of 2017 to 2.6% at the end of 2019. This suggests that demand for rental property has gone up.

 

When researching different suburbs, doing a combination of online research and speaking to professionals can be worthwhile. For example, if you’re interested in learning more about potential investment opportunities, speaking to the top real estate agents in Logan Reserve can help give you a better understanding of local market activity.

 

Guest author: Ellen Orton is the Head of Business Operations at OpenAgent.com.au, an online agent comparison website helping Australians to sell, buy and own property.