Why I’ll keep investing in Brisbane property
The Sunshine State capital has been on the radar for investors for a few years now.
There are myriad reasons why, including its affordability, superior rental yields, strong interstate migration as well as a multibillion-dollar major infrastructure program.
I have been buying strategically-located houses for our investor clients within 20 kilometres of the city centre for under $600,000 – a figure and a location that southerners can only dream about.
The thing is, post-coronavirus, the investment fundamentals of Brisbane stack up even stronger than before if you ask me.
In fact, we have continued to invest there for clients, while most other buyers waited out the lockdown and wondered what would happen next.
Throughout the pandemic, there continued to be solid demand from buyer’s agents and savvy investors for the best Brisbane opportunities because they understood the future prospects of the River City real estate.
Why does Brisbane tick so many property investment boxes?
For starters, Brisbane’s median house price is far more affordable than Sydney and Melbourne.
In fact, the Greater Brisbane median house price is about $560,000, whereas it is $1.01 million in Sydney and nearly $810,000 in Melbourne, according to CoreLogic.
The thing is, incomes in Brisbane are not significantly lower than these southern capitals, it’s just that you get much more property bang for your buck in Brisbane.
On top of that, the gross rental yields in the Sunshine State capital are far superior to down south, too.
Some detractors have pointed out that Brisbane’s property price growth hasn’t been as strong as Sydney and Melbourne’s the past few years, which seemingly means it’s not a solid place to investment.
The counter-argument to that, of course, is that strategic investment involves buying into locations before prices start soaring, which a lot of unfortunate investors learned too late in Sydney over recent years.
So, as well as these sound property metrics, Brisbane had embarked on an impressive major infrastructure program a number of years ago, which will ultimately transform the city and its wider surrounds.
The Brisbane major infrastructure program was initially valued at $20 billion but is likely to increase post-pandemic as new projects get green-lighted.
Amongst the game-changing projects are the $5.4 billion Cross River Rail – a 10-kilometre rail-line that includes nearly six kilometres under the CBD – and the $3.6 billion Queens Wharf Development, which is a private sector development that will feature 50 bars and restaurants, a 24-hour 100 metre-high Sky Deck with views across Brisbane and a pedestrian bridge linking the complex to South Bank.
Property prospects post-pandemic
Interstate migration into Queensland was already number one of all states and territories prior to the coronavirus crisis.
In fact, the state had a net interstate gain of 25,000 in the year ending September last year.
But, back then, the relatively low share of international migrants into Queensland was seen as a bad thing by southern investors because the lion’s share of new Aussies always landed in Sydney and Melbourne.
Now, of course, there are literally no new international migrants, and it will probably be some time before numbers rebound to even close to where they were before.
While this is likely to hurt the Sydney and Melbourne markets, it will likely not ruffle a feather in Brisbane because it was never reliant on new overseas migrants in the first place.
Likewise, the volume of interstate migrants into Brisbane is set to strengthen in my opinion as more people realise they can work from home anywhere– including in Brisbane, where property prices and lifestyle options generally are more affordable.
So, hopefully, now you can see why I’ll keep investing in Brisbane property.
Maybe you should consider doing so, too?
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