Brisbane’s inner south leads strong sales for city’s apartment market

A MASSIVE $700 million was spent on Brisbane city apartments in three months, with one area accounting for almost half.

Anthony John Group chief executive Shane Bulloch at the Southpoint development. South Bank is the most popular suburb in Queensland that investors are searching for according to the REA. Photo by Sarah Keayes

A MASSIVE $694.8 million was spent on Brisbane city apartments in three months with the inner south trouncing nearby precincts with $310.3 million in sales.

The Urbis Brisbane Apartment Insights report for the March quarter of 2015 found the past year has recorded the most activity Inner Brisbane has ever seen from a residential standpoint.

There were 120 projects monitored during the March quarter, and the inner south scored 44 per cent of all apartment sales.

The inner south had 534 sales over 35 projects, worth $310.3 million, compared to the inner north recording 280 sales across 34 projects, worth $144.9 million.

There were only 73 sales in the CBD, with four projects raking in $57.1 million. Northshore reached to $92 million in sales across 15 projects.

Urbis economic and market research director Mal Aikman said the inner south’s high sales volume was due to several project launches around South Brisbane, Woolloongabba and West End.

“The inner south also possesses the greatest level of pending supply, with more than 2000 apartments expected to launch during the remainder of 2015, equating to 30 per cent of Brisbane’s total pending supply,” he said.

Inner Brisbane’s top sales for the March quarter went to Anthony John Group project Southpoint - The Apartments in South Brisbane. There were 130 sales recorded in the quarter worth more than $81 million.

Also in the top five sales were Pellicano’s South City Square (79), Metro’s Canterbury Towers (76), Citimark’s Hercules Hamilton (71), and Lend Lease’s South Yard (69).

In the March quarter almost half of all product sold was two-bedroom, two-bathroom - which continues to register the greatest demand and makes up 48 per cent of Brisbane’s future supply.

All six inner Brisbane regions saw the weighted average sales price increase, with the region achieving an average apartment price of $569,287 - up $4378 on the previous quarter.

Southeast Queensland buyers make up 30 per cent of investment, with foreign investment recorded at 21 per cent of sales. The interstate market makes up 44 per cent of sales, which the report found was likely driven by the “unaffordable Sydney apartment market”.

Originally published as Brisbane’s inner south leads strong sales for city’s apartment market