Kangaroo Point hops into the minds of prestige buyers

Several high-profile sales and strong results are boosting Kangaroo Point’s appeal as one of Brisbane’s prestigious suburbs.

A view of Brisbane’s night-time skyline from 8/2 Scott Street, Kangaroo Point.

Kangaroo Point continues to attract attention as one of Brisbane’s more prestigious suburbs, with several high-profile sales and strong results boosting its appeal.

River-clinging Brisbane suburbs of Hamilton and New Farm or leafy Paddington and Brookfield are far more likely to spring to mind when discussing prestige property than Kangaroo Point.

But the small connector suburb, home to the southern end of the city’s beloved Story Bridge, has sustained strong sales and a plethora of new apartments are under ­development and coming onto the market.

Brisbane agent Matt Lancashire, principal of Ray White New Farm, says the “hidden gem” is unlikely to stay that way for long. The investment in the geographically small area, which stretches from the river peninsula down to the The Gabba sportsground bordering Woolloongabba, is one of the key selling points.

“It is a great connector suburb to the city and you’ve got some fantastic apartments going up,” Lancashire says.

“It has been getting better infrastructure, shops, more cafes and urban attraction zones like parks.”

Infrastructure will be boosted by a proposed pedestrian bridge from Kangaroo Point to the CBD, says Leigh Warner, JLL’s head of residential research for Australia.

“Kangaroo Point has had a larger share of recent projects,” Warner says. “They have been quite high-end, smaller projects targeted at owner-occupiers as that is where the buyer profile in that area is at. In terms of value, people can see the preposition of place and proximity in that market.”

Place Kangaroo Point principal Simon Caulfield and wife Courtney Maguire regularly market luxury properties in the area. Apartments continue to be highly sought after, with some achieving double-digit rises in value when sold.

One of these buildings is Walan, 2 Scott Street. The couple have resold four apartments within the building in the past 12 months, achieving resale prices of more than 15 per cent higher than the original off-the-plan sum. Caulfield says developments of the one-unit-per-floor design are attracting huge demand, with buyers wanting to be closer to the city with fewer ­immediate neighbours.