Brisbane’s golden decade

The inaugural Voice of Queensland Property panel, hosted by Ray White Queensland, heard from Dan White, Ray White Group Managing Director, Antonia Mercorella, CEO of the REIQ, Owen Wilson, CEO of REA Group and Don O'Rorke, Consolidated Properties Group Managing Director, today who all agreed Brisbane was the place to be.

Owen Wilson, the CEO of REA Group, said the median house price growth in Brisbane may continue to rise by more than 50 per cent, ahead of 2023.

“I expect Brisbane will see the highest price appreciation in Australia in the lead up to the Olympics. There has been 45 per cent growth in the last few years, I expect it will be more than 50 per cent price growth in the lead up to the Olympics.

"There are definitely foreign investors in the market, searches from other countries, the #1 inbound enquiry is from India. The largest source of immigrants at the moment is Indian high net worth investors who are looking to buy property. Some 10 years ago it was China. There is still strong interest from foreigners to buy property in Australia.

“The thing about Brisbane is it’s the place people are trying to get to. If you look at enquiries on listings on realestate.com.au it’s up 20 per cent which compares to four per cent in total for the country,” Mr Wilson said.

“There’s so much interest in property here. Brisbane has been a huge beneficiary of international and internal migration, especially from the southern states.

“The only place that rivals Brisbane for energy right now is Perth. The mood in Victoria is the exact opposite of Brisbane. It's like chalk and cheese and that’s why so many people are voting with their feet and coming up to Queensland.

“It’s very different here compared to Victoria where the government is almost broke.

“Some 50 per cent of its revenue comes from property and they have made it a very unattractive place to own property. I predict we are going to end up with a state of ‘working homeless’ in Victoria as people cannot find a place to rent.

“Our shared accommodation site Flatmates.com is booming with people looking for flatmates,” Mr Wilson said.

Antonia Mercorella, CEO of the REIQ, said there was an extraordinary economic benefit with 2.2 million people moving to south east Queensland.

“There are such positive benefits from this migration, with new sets of skills and changing the diversity of the community, it’s hard to put a value on those things,” Ms Mercorella said.

“More businesses are domiciled in Queensland but it's not just economic benefits, there’s non monetary benefits that come from diversity and broadening who is in our community, the challenge is how we house all these people.

“Whoever gets elected needs to be focused on housing.

“I have watched the evolution of Brisbane over the past 14 years and it has been extraordinary. We don’t like to brag but there is so much to be positive about in Brisbane and we need to be positive in the community about the positives of the city and why it is a great place to love and work.

“If you look around Australia, Brisbane is one of the most exciting cities in Australia, if not the world, and we have a bright future.

“The announcement of the Olympic Games puts the city's growth on steroids, it’s hard to see how the growth won't continue and be stranger than any of us are expecting.

“Most exciting city in the country, especially since the announcement of the Olympics

Real excitement and positive energy. We need to use it and bottle it.

Consolidated Properties Group managing director Don O'Rorke spoke about the three inflection points Brisbane has had to date.

“The first inflection date was relatively mundane, it was when Clem Jones sewered the city,” Mr O’Rorke said.

“The second and third were the 1982 Commonwealth Games and World Expo 88. They have given Brisbane the confidence that we have something to offer.

“It caused a push in population growth which is the thing that drives everything. The demand for all the property products we all produce and trade in is unbelievable.”

Mr O’Rorke highlighted the impact the pandemic had on Australia’s property market.

“It’s been a really interesting five to six years, things were going smoothly pre-pandemic, but then the journey through pandemic left us with inflation and inflation has pushed the cost of construction,” he said.

“As a developer, we can’t produce a two bedroom apartment for under the $1.2 million price point. The replacement cost discount is a really big factor.

“If you take away government intervention, the middle and lower markets just won’t get built. The only way we’re going to afford new homes for families on an average wage is house and land.”