City Beat July 2024: Brisbane units on course for 20 per cent gains in 2024
It might still be eight years out from the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics, but there seems to be no end to the boom occurring in both Brisbane's house and unit markets.
Brisbane's unit market is on track to grow over 20 per cent in 2024, based on the performance in the first six months of the year.
June marked another 1.8 per cent value jump in units, taking the value increase up to 10.3 per cent year to date, CoreLogic's latest monthly Home Value Index showed. It's the second best performing unit market in the country this year, only behind Perth (+13.7 per cent).
Brisbane's median unit value is now $622,000. The staggering price growth has seen Brisbane unit values overtake both Melbourne and Canberra to be the second most expensive unit market in the country, only behind Sydney.
What happened in Brisbane’s off the plan apartment market in June
The main reason for Brisbane's huge price growth, particularly in the unit market, is the supply issues facing the capital.
There are very few developers actively in market, and those that are are focusing on the high-end, luxury developments that might only comprise a handful of apartments.
That's pushing supply to historic lows, while demand continues to swell due to the relative affordability compared to Sydney, and the prospect of further price growth given the billions of dollars of infrastructure projects underway ahead of the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics.
One developer able to move ahead with their project is the Sydney-based Sarazin. They've appointed Hutchinson's to build their Woolloongabba apartment development, Murcia Residences.
Murcia Residences, named after its design influence of the Spanish city, comprises 186 one, two, three, and four-bedroom apartments with open-plan living spaces that integrate indoor and outdoor areas.
Crowning the development will be an infinity pool, accompanied by private poolside cabanas and sun lounges.
Murcia will sit just 500 metres away from the new Cross River Rail Station, slated for completion in early 2025, with the convenient transportation hub set to connect residents to the rest of the city.
There were two notable development applications submitted in June, both in Newstead.
Luxury developer Fortis has tinkered again with their commercial deveopment on Kyabra Street. When they acquired the site in early 2022 when it came with approval for an 11-level timber officer tower.
In February they sought to change the design of the building to create something more in keeping with local architecture. Now those plans are likely to be moot, given the recently submitted plans for a bureau^proberts-designed building with 65 apartments.
The architecture firm suggested in the planning documents that the new proposal better aligns with changing market conditions and the local architectural context.
The new 22-level tower will now house a mix of 54 two-bedroom and 11 three-bedroom apartments.
Jonathan Leishman’s Churchill Development Group is also seeking to add some much needed supply to the Brisbane market, submitted plans for a mixed-use development fronting Breakfast Creek Road.
Dubbed Breakfast Creek Quarter, the proposal aims to transform a 6778-square-metre site into a vibrant residential and commercial precinct.
Designed by MAS Architecture Studio, Breakfast Creek Quarter will comprise three towers rising 23, 26, and 28 levels with a total of 752 apartments. Around 80 per cent of the apartments are designated as build-to-rent.
The tallest tower however will feature 164 build-to-sell apartments.
At the ground level, the plan includes an activated laneway and a landscaped civic plaza facing Breakfast Creek Road, envisioned as an extension of Newstead Park, designed to enhance interaction with the streetscape.
