Hefty first sale suggests a waterfront bonanza

Riverfront property is expected to be a hot commodity in Brisbane this year.

This Teneriffe home was the first Brisbane River sale of 2020

Riverfront property is expected to be a hot commodity in Brisbane this year, given the first waterfront sale of the year was negotiated at a hefty $4.6m.

Record low interest rates, the long-awaited ruling on the Wivenhoe Dam class action and infrastructure projects designed to make Brisbane more accessible will help increase demand from local and interstate buyers for properties on the serpentine river over the next 12 months, according to several agents.

“This is going to be better than last year,” says Brisbane-based Place managing director Sarah Hackett.

“Borrowing money is at all-time cheap levels and I’ve noticed buyers are more confident. There was a lot of uncertainty in 2019 about what was happening in the market. Ninety per cent of my buyers who purchase on the river have to sell a home as well, so there was an inherent risk and lending was still difficult. I really had to motivate them.

“Now, there’s a lot more consumer confidence out there.”

Hackett was responsible for brokering the first waterfront sale of the year less than a week into 2020. The three-storey home in the inner-northside suburb of Teneriffe was bought for $4.6m by a local family looking to split their time between Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast. It last sold for the same amount in 2017.

Attractive views and breezes off the Brisbane River were complemented by the low-maintenance nature of the home.

Located on Teneriffe’s main street and opposite the landmark Woolstore apartments and entertainment strip, the four-bedroom property features three easy-to-access car spots.

The principal of the recently launched Ray White Bulimba office, Brandon Wortley, expects 2020 to be a “ripping year” for riverfront homes and predicts prices could grow as much as 5 per cent each year in the short term if confidence remains high.

“The five coinciding market drivers of low rates, constrained supply, strong interstate migration, positive media sentiment and a series of Brisbane infrastructure projects kicking off is helping to create a fertile environment,” Wortley says.

“Record low rates are creating affordability. The riverfront has always been aspirational and now at rates of around 3 per cent, people can make their dream happen.”

Demand is set to increase as migrants from Sydney and Melbourne are attracted to the sunshine state capital as the state’s economic conditions improve, property prices remain comparatively affordable to the southern states and lifestyle projects like Howard Smith Wharves and the Queens Wharf tourism hub continue to enhance the city.

A recent showing of a riverfront penthouse Wortley is advertising in the popular Brisbane suburb of New Farm attracted 60 groups — a number he would not have expected this time last year.

The November ruling on the Wivenhoe Dam class action may also have an unanticipated flow-on effect to the property market, Adcock Prestige principal Jason Adcock says.

The agent, who exclusively deals in homes with water views, says buyer inquiries along the river’s edge had picked up considerably since the NSW Supreme Court ruled the mismanagement of the Wivenhoe Dam during the 2011 flood disaster contributed to the flooding.

“Everything I’ve got at the moment is getting strong inquiries and I think that momentum will carry,” Adcock says.

“Over the next two to three years, we will see increasing growth as people looking for prestige property look to the river first, before considering the homes for sale in the suburbs.”

Adcock adds that low stock levels at the moment were helping to push up prices.