Brisbane units growing at fastest rate since 1988
Brisbane's apartment and townhouse market hasn't seen a boom like it is currently witnessing for nearly four decades.
It was 1988 the last time the Brisbane unit market was performing better than it is so far in 2024.
Data gathered by Urban from property data analytics firm, CoreLogic, showed that, following a 1.8 per cent jump in unit values in July, Brisbane's unit market is now 12.8 per cent up over 2024 to August.
Units have already grown at a higher rate than the whole of 2023 (12.5 per cent), and in another two months will surpass the boom in 2021 (14.3 per cent).
Back in 1988, growth over the first seven months of the year was 16 per cent.
The 2024 boom has seen the median value of units across Brisbane soar from $561,000 to $638,000, surpassing Melbourne and Canberra to become the second most expensive capital city unit market in the country.
At the current trajectory, Brisbane units are primed for over 20 per cent growth in 2024, which would take the median unit value to nearly $700,000.
The boom in the unit market has been a lack of supply across the whole city. Brisbane is one of the most undersupplied markets in the country compared with the demand flooding into the Queensland capital, partly driven by the Brisbane 2032 Olympics, partly by the lifestyle benefits of South East Queensland that have been highlighted to the rest of the country since the onset of the pandemic.
The last few years have proved difficult for developers to get new apartment buildings out of the ground, with the majority of builders workbooks full as the government seeks to pour billions into infrastructure upgrades. That, paired with increased labour and material costs, has slowed down supply considerably.
There are some green shoots emerging, however, with construction costs stabilising and developers working toward a new normal. The supply of new apartments is looking a little healthier the deeper we get into 2024, with several major developments coming to market either later this year or early next.
Kokoda Property recently unveiled Teneriffe Banks, on the riverfront Skyring Terrace, which will deliver five buildings as part of the $1.5 billion masterplan. There will be 200 luxury apartments as part of the development, as well as Brisbane’s first Kimpton Hotel, a 200-plus-seat signature restaurant and bar, spa with multiple treatment rooms, a fitness centre, large-scale multi-purpose meeting and event spaces, as well as an open-air Garden Terrace complete with infinity pool, and a rooftop bar with Brisbane city views.
Kokoda has sold over 80 per cent of the apartments in its nearby Milton development, Ruby Ruby, one of the only tower developments to launch in the whole of Brisbane in 2024.
Developer Sarazin had the one before that. They recently appointed Hutchies to build Murcia Residences and in July broke ground at the Overend Street site just 150 metres from The Gabba.
Murcia Residences sits on the border of Woolloongabba and East Brisbane and has been inspired by the Spanish city of Murcia. It comprises 210 one, two and three-bedroom apartments in a Mediterranean-influenced building.
Crowning the building will be an impressive rooftop with a heated infinity pool, cold and warm magnesium plunge pools, spa, sauna, bookable private dining room, work-from-home spaces, fully equipped gym and various outdoor alfresco BBQ areas.
Sekisui House Australia is selling the final apartments in the penultimate stage of its $1 billion West Village community in West End. The Opulent Release features the four and five bedroom apartments atop towers UNO and DUO, which make up the Allere Collection.
Only one tower remains in West Village. Callista on Park is expected to launch next year and will home just over 70 three and four-bedroom apartments.
Family-run developer Gardner Vaughan is consistently delivering apartments to the undersupplied market.
They'll finish both Estilo on the Park in Chermside and Stonebrook in Stones Corner in early 2025.
They have more supply coming, in Nundah, where they have the mixed-use precinct DANBY LN, 84 apartments above extensive retail.
There's plenty of activity in the affluent Kangaroo Point where Pikos is preparing to launch its second development in the riverside suburb. Having secured a string of sales at the relaunch of its River Terrace development Skye Residences, Pikos is soon to launch Gaia, just 650 metres away.
Gaia will feature just over 200 two, three and four-bedroom apartments across two 15-level buildings at 108 Lambert Street, one of the best streets in Kangaroo Point.
The development site, unrepeatable in today's expensive land market, will carve out a whole acre dedicated to a community park.
Gaia residents will also have exclusive access to wellness amenities including a riverside pool and pool terrace, with hot and cold plunge pools, set amongst the landscaped gardens, as well as an indoor/outdoor gym, BBQ and outdoor dining, rooftop dining and garden workshop, yoga lawn and outdoor cinema, private dining room, and work-from-home lounge.
Kenlynn is also preparing to launch its Kangaroo Point development 130Lambert, named after its location just a few doors down from Gaia.
130Lambert, designed by Ellivo Architects, will comprise just 36 apartments with a rooftop pool and fitness zone.
Developer builder Mosaic Property also has a couple of projects in the cross hairs in Kangaroo Point, one on Linton Street, one row back from The Gabba.
The inner-city suburb of Spring Hill is also set for a refresh to its new apartment supply.
Cbus Property has just launched 185 Wharf Street, which has been some nine years in the making.
Cbus secured the prime 1,835 sqm site back in 2015. In 2022 they filed plans for a 30-level Rothelowman-designed tower with 125 two, three and four-bedroom apartments.
The all-electric building features a 1,000 sqm sub-tropical garden on level two, featuring a 20-metre open-air swimming pool, spa and sauna, gym, private dining space, lounge and landscaped open gardens with barbeque and children’s play areas.
Franco Di Bartolomeo's Dibcorp will also be taking its redevelopment of the Spring Hill Hotel to market in the coming months.
Dibcorp, which sold out Bide Newstead before its completion last year, will be creating an 18-level mixed-use tower above the former Spring Hill Hotel that has fallen into disrepair in recent years.
Above the hotel, and new retail and commercial spaces, will be 126 two and three-bedroom apartments. Jeremy Gilmore at 360 Property will be handling the sales at 100 Leichhardt Street.
An injection of supply is also expected at the start of 2025, around the same time most markets are expected interest rates to start coming down.
Shayher is expected to launch the first stage of its 20-hectare mixed-use precinct, Bulimba Barracks. Urban revealed the plans for the first stage when they hit council desks in May.
Shayher is first focusing on a 6,382 sqm block fronting Apollo Road in the northwest corner of the site. They're planning two low-rise apartment buildings with 69 apartments, separated by a laneway from the fabrication workshop which will be restored.
Harry Triguboff's Meriton has plans in the city centre for nearly 800 apartments at 204 Alice Street, a tower which will replace the old Gardens Apartments building directly across the road from the City Botanic Gardens.
The $1.3 billion development on a 5,485 sqm site will also include a childcare centre, retail and food and beverage spaces, and communal open space facilities like swimming pools, an outdoor gym and play space on the level five podium level, before it gives way to the main tower structure.
Then there's the proposed 71-level tower at 25 Mary Street, which would be one of the tallest in Brisbane. Plans by James and John Kaias's KS Property are for a Koichi Takada-designed tower with 571 apartments.
Salter Brothers, the owners of Spicers Retreat, will be making its apartment debut in Brisbane with a new 17-level development in Upper Mt Gravatt, while the likes of Fortis and Forme have more boutique developments on the table in Newstead and Teneriffe.
