Brisbane suburb Teneriffe joins elite $2 million real estate club

The dark days of the national downturn appear to be behind Australia as a handful of surprising suburbs will soon join elite company.

A handful of suburbs across Australia will soon join an elite threshold with a median property price of $2 million or more.

It comes as little surprise the beachside retreat for Melbourne’s ultra wealthy, Portsea, is in line to join the club. But the other soon-to-join spots don’t possess the same traditional links to opulence or are breaking local property trends.

The list of 45 suburbs already in that bracket is dominated by Sydney, while Victoria is home to seven and Western Australia already has two.

Queensland’s Teneriffe has a median sale price of $1.925 million with property prices having surged nearly 12 per cent over the last 12 months, according to realestate.com.au figures.

This jump in value reveals how the Brisbane market has emerged relatively unscathed from the recent national downturn and is ready for a sustained period of growth.

“It’s showing how expensive Brisbane is getting,” realestate.com.au chief economist Nerida Conisbee said.

“Brisbane is starting to show a trend similar to what we’ve seen in Sydney. In Gold Coast as well, a lot of the premium suburbs are starting to pick up.”

Ms Conisbee told news.com.au positive jobs growth figures in Queensland as well as strong rental demand had resulted in a booming property market.

And Teneriffe ticking over the $2 million threshold may be a sign Brisbane is edging closer to “unaffordable”.

“There’s definitely a lot of positive signs in Brisbane, and this is just another one,” she said.

“It’s highly unlikely it will even get to Sydney levels of unaffordable, but Queensland in total has 15 suburbs over $1 million, which includes quite a lot on the Gold Coast and also up in Noosa.

“Brisbane is still a city where it’s not really that expensive, but the high end is.”

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Rosebery was once an industrial suburb in Sydney, but with a current median property price of $1.75 million, it is also edging closer to elite company.

“Roseberry is a shock,” Ms Conisbee said. “It’s definitely a cool place to be and has a great retail precinct that has developed, but it’s not traditionally what you would consider to be a premium suburb.”

Kogarah Bay in Sydney’s south appears likely to join dozens of others from the Harbour City on the $2 million list after prices jumped more than 15 per cent in value over the last year to $1.8 million.

Over in the west, the Perth beachside suburb of Swanbourne has defied the city’s gloomy market with prices surging more than 17 per cent higher to $1.738 million, which Ms Conisbee described as “really surprising”.

“Perth’s been one of the toughest markets in Australia, but there’s been some very positive conditions in premium markets,” she said.

“When we look at WA and how it’s been going over the last five years, in particular, it’s been really tough.

“But premium suburbs have been doing well not only in terms of pricing but also rental growth.”

Portsea on the Mornington Peninsula, on the other hand, has traditionally been a premium location littered with mansions by the bay. It has a current median property value of $1.925 million.

“I’m surprised Portsea is actually not at that price point yet because if you look at Rosebery it doesn’t even have luxury homes,” the realestate.com.au chief economist said.

“Portsea has always had old Melbourne money buying up mansions down there as holiday homes, but increasingly we’ve seen the Mornington Peninsula become more of a commuter region with people more likely to drive to the city.

“The transport links between those areas and Melbourne have become a lot better, so it really has changed the dynamic.”

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