WHY SOUTH EAST QUEENSLAND IS LEADING AUSTRALIA'S PROPERTY MARKET

Brisbane is the only capital city to report positive property price growth in the June quarter, with the upswing also extending to parts of regional Queensland including the Gold Coast.

The Australian Property Market Report July 2019 by realestate.com.au has revealed that Brisbane and surrounding areas are “leading Australia’s recovery”, having weathered the downturn “very well” with prices only falling by 1 per cent over the past 12 months and recording 0.1 per cent growth in the June quarter.

Even Hobart, which has arguably been the nation’s top performing capital during the national downturn, recorded a 0.7 per cent drop in dwelling values over same quarter.

By comparison, values continued to fall over the same quarter in Sydney and Melbourne, with dwelling prices falling by 0.4 per cent in both cities. To date, median prices have fallen by 7.2 per cent in Sydney and 5.8 per cent in Melbourne, the report said.

Renewed confidence in the mining sector, infrastructure spending and continue migration from NSW to Queensland were identified as the most likely reasons behind the upswing in the sunshine state.

“Searches (on realestate.com.au) in southeast Queensland out of Sydney suggest that population growth continues to come from an exodus from NSW,” the report said.

“While there is a clear affordability edge in southeast Queensland compared to Sydney, it is jobs that are making the move possible.”

Looking at houses and units, the biggest improvement has been in the apartment market, which has seen a 0.7 per cent jump quarter-on-quarter to $387,000.

House prices fell slightly over the same period, down 0.1 per cent to $530,000.

“The other more unique factor about southeast Queensland is that we are seeing some big jumps in offshore property seekers,” the report said.

“Chinese buyers are gone but property seekers from India have more than doubled over the past 12 months, perhaps suggesting that Indian born buyers may begin to have as big an influence on house and land sales as they have had in Melbourne and Sydney.”