The Brisbane suburbs that will save buyers millions
The shocking truth about Brisbane’s housing market is a mere 2km could save you nearly $2m, with surprising disparities on offer to buy a home without breaking the bank. SEE WHERE
A matter of kilometres separates some of Brisbane’s most expensive and cheapest real estate with buyers able to knock almost $2m off their purchase price by venturing a little further from the inner city.
Exclusive Ray White data based on SA3 boundaries revealed Newstead - Bowen Hills, 3.1km from the central city, was the priciest suburb outside of inner Brisbane, with homes selling for $2.7m on average.
Less than 2km further from inner Brisbane, the Rocklea – Acacia Ridge house market was almost $2m cheaper with a median of $802,000. And there’s much more revealed off the research.
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Ascot, 2.1km from the central suburbs, had a median house price of $2.5m, while next door in Eagle Farm – Pinkenba, less than 3km from the city, buyers could expect to pay $978,000 for a typical house.
In the riverside suburb of Hawthorne, houses were fetching about $2.2m, while 2.7km away in Murarrie, the average cost of a detached dwelling was $1m less.
The Ray White figures showed further out there were still huge variances in house prices between nearby suburbs.
The Inala – Richlands area is almost 10km from the inner Brisbane and has a house median of $807,000, while in Eight Mile Plains, also about 10km from city centre, houses sell for $1.5m on average.
Seventeen Mile Rocks has a median house price of $1.3m while next door in Darra – Sumner buyers can pick up a typical detached home for $880,000.
In Riverview, 17km from inner Brisbane, houses ($616,000) are considerably cheaper than 1.8km away in Bellbowrie – Moggill ($1.1m).
Ray White head of research, Vanessa Rader said the data was an encouraging sign for buyers in the Brisbane property market.
“There is still opportunity to purchase close to the city for below the Brisbane median house price (of $1.015m),” she said.
“It does depend on whether people want to live in these areas or not, but if proximity (to the city) is important, these suburbs will appeal.”
Ms Rader said while the more affordable neighbourhoods may not be as desirable to owner-occupiers right now, there was a likelihood of gentrification in the future.
“There is that ripple effect,” she said.
“It starts with one really cool suburb and when people are priced out, they move out to the next suburb and gentrification begins.”
Ms Rader said history showed the ripple effect of gentrification resulted in strong value growth, though that it may take longer than in more in-demand suburbs.
“You do need to know that gentrification will take place,” she said.
“Markets like Pinkenba, which is heavily industrial and close to the airport and the port – may not see that change anytime soon.
“You really need to be selective and do your homework.”
Ray White Centenary/Sherwood director, Steven Kremer said the price gap between suburbs was still substantial in parts of Brisbane.
“Take Chapel Hill and Kenmore, for example,” he said.
“You go across the bridge to Jindalee and you’re paying $200,000 to $300,000 less for the same houses built by the same builders in an area offering the same conveniences.
“We recently sold a beautifully renovated three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Inala for $872,000.
“Ted Hagemeijer from our office also just auctioned one in Inala last week for $912,000.
“These are uncharted prices, but take those houses to Jindalee and they’re $1.1m or $1.2m.”
Mr Kremer said surging home prices in Brisbane were pushing buyers into markets once on their no-go list.
“In the Centenary region, a lot of buyers priced out of suburbs such as Kenmore and Indooroopilly are coming across the bridge to West Lake and Middle Park,” he said.
“But that isn’t just restricted to people priced out of markets.
“I’m seeing people who can afford to buy in their target suburbs, but see they can get a lot more bang for their buck a little further out.”
Ms Kremer said buyers often started with “let’s at least investigate and see what’s on offer” while not really believing they would buy into these once ‘dodgy’ areas.
“Perhaps they steered clear based on perceived images and historical comments,” he said.
“But they go through these suburbs now and look at the gentrification, the renovations and the extensions, the money gone into shopping centres, entertainment and cafes.
“More often than not, they end up buying and stay for a considerable amount of time.
“They’re moving in or moving back close to where they grew up, putting roots down, getting involved in kindies and schools and sporting teams.”
Mr Kremer said these more affordable markets were almost completely dominated by couples and families.
“Some of these suburbs in the western and southern corridors were some of the only suburbs to see a decrease in population in the last census, with a lot of homes only inhabited by mum and dad as their children had moved away,” he said.
“Now kids are back playing in the streets, schools are back at capacity and some of the sports teams are completely full.”
Mr Kremer said while suburbs such as Acacia Ridge and Inala were more affordable compared to other parts of Brisbane, prices were trending upwards quickly, driven by low stock and high demand.
“The bottom end of the market disappears the fastest,” he said.
“It wasn’t too long ago you could buy a main road house in these suburbs for $350,000, but we just sold a home on a flood affected block in Jindalee for $775,000.”
The latest PropTrack data revealed the Rocklea house market had the second highest enquires-per-listing on realestate.com.au in Queensland.
It was also sixth in the country.
Forestdale, with a median house price of $1.5m, was number one.
The more affordable house markets of Woodridge, Redbank Plains and Loganlea rounded out the top five, showing the high demand for affordable property in the Brisbane market.
In the unit market, Goodna had the highest enquires-per-listing in the country, while Loganlea was number three and Mount Gravatt was number eight.
Originally published as The Brisbane suburbs that will save buyers millions