You would have no doubt heard it all before for many, many years, it’s Brisbane’s turn to bask in the sunlight!
This headline has tantalised the hearts and minds of property investors and home owners in Brisbane for close to a decade now.
In reality though, it has been a vastly different story and the many commentators only claim was that it is Brisbane’s turn simply because it has to play catch up, without any data to back it up.
But we are finally starting to see some data to back up the headline and now is the time to act!
Leading Indicators
As I have pointed out previously the leading indicators are starting to head in the right direction;
- Migration from Interstate and Overseas has nearly doubled over the last few years
- Jobs growth was at a 10 year high in late 2017
- The lower Australian Dollar has assisted with tourism increases and exporting of our goods.
Previously when these headlines were made these important key factors were heading in the opposite direction.
There are also some exciting projects on the horizon that will transform Brisbane into a new world City.
The Headlines
Interestingly the last few weeks have seen a raft of headlines pointing to the same shift in sentiment.
A Deloitte Access Economics report recently suggested that Queensland will lead the nation for economic growth over the next 4 years.
Deloitte highlights infrastructure spending on projects like the Bruce Highway and Cross River Rail projects and key exports also to play a big part.
Bernard Salt has also been in the headlines forecasting that Brisbane will overtake Melbourne.
Importantly also, many experts such as WBC Bill Evans have been predicting interest rates to be on hold for at least another 12-18 months, increasing short term comfort for borrowers.
First Home Buyers
Brisbane First Home Owners are also at a 10-year high and slowly gaining momentum.
They could be the spark that leads the charge, freeing up the upgraders and starting a chain reaction through the market that could see demand for high quality property rise sharply and prices along with it.
Predictions
Property experts such as Michael Yardney, Louis Christopher and Pete Wargent have Brisbane coming in anywhere between 4-6% growth for the coming year 2018.
Always good to see the ever consistently negative Professor Steven Keen predicting a 5-10% fall.
The reality is it will be much the same as last year and better performing properties will outperform the averages across the board.
Most investment grade suburbs and properties should see at least 7-10% growth and in many cases even more.
Time to Act
If you have been considering investing into the Brisbane market for a while a now and were waiting for the right time or a sign, then this might be it.
But not because of the “its time” factor or it will “play catch up” reasoning, but because the signs have started to point in the right direction.
Jobs growth, population growth and major infrastructure projects will transform Brisbane and create demand for more housing in quality blue chip locations.
We are already starting to see this with many inner-city suburbs reaching double digit growth last year alone.
The future is bright for Brisbane and now is the time to act!
