Forget upsizing and downsizing. ‘Rightsizing’ is the new lifestyle trend set to dominate Brisbane’s property market in 2020.
APARTMENTS the size of an average house have replaced the white picket fence as the new Great Australian Dream thanks to a new breed of home buyers known as ‘rightsizers’.
By 2022, Brisbane is forecast to have more three-bedroom apartments than any other city in the country, according to new research by Knight Frank.
Entrepreneurs and young families are joining “active retirees” who want low-maintenance properties, with house-like proportions and top-shelf amenities.
“Perhaps surprisingly, ‘right sizing’ also appeals to the younger generations, and we are seeing this at a much earlier stage than in previous years given the agile, transient and global nature of their work and play,” Knight Frank Australia’s head of residential research Michelle Ciesielski said.
“Downsizing the living areas is not part of this movement; the yard most certainly, but the new luxury apartment must be the right size, with amenities to match.
“Rightsizers want to be in a walkable location with proximity to activity hubs and amenities.”
When it comes to the apartment itself, ‘rightsizers’ want high security and a concierge for lock-up-and-leave convenience, a reputable developer and builder with certainty of delivery, single-level, in-house amenities, a good view and access to transport links.
Knight Frank Queensland prestige residential sales director Jason March said the ‘rightsizing’ trend was growing in Brisbane, with an increase in demand from buyers looking to transition to well-appointed, luxury apartments.
“This demand is coming from not only retirees, who are more active than ever, but increasingly from families and entrepreneurs,” Mr March said.
“In Brisbane we see many retirees looking to relocate from sizeable homes in the northern suburbs such as Ascot, Clayfield and Bridgeman Downs to luxury apartments in well-located suburbs closer to the CBD including Newstead, Teneriffe and the CBD.”
Mr March said that eastern suburbs’ retirees often migrated from Chandler and Balmoral to Bulimba, Kangaroo Point and Southbank, while western suburbs’ rightsizers from Chelmer, Pullenvale and Brookfield were more likely to be drawn to Toowong, West End and St Lucia.
“Only recently has luxury apartment product been built in Brisbane to cater for this rightsizer population,” he said.
“Brisbane developers are one of the first across the major Australian cities to respond to the increase in demand for three-bedroom apartments from rightsizers, being one of the only cities in Australia analysed in the research to have a strong supply.
“Brisbane’s luxury apartment market provides great value, with southern buyers able to sell up in Melbourne or Sydney and buy something really special that suits all their requirements for right sizing at a much more affordable price.
“That value proposition will likely change over time, so buying in the near term is key for rightsizers in Brisbane.”
New research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) has also found space remains important to Aussie buyers, with more than half moving to a home with three or more bedrooms and a third moving to an apartment.
“Australian governments typically see downsizing, or rightsizing, as a way to use housing stock more efficiently, with downsizers reducing the number of bedrooms in their dwelling freeing up larger dwellings,” lead report author Dr Amity James from Curtin’s School of Economics, Finance and Property said.
“However, most downsizers still want space and regard spare bedrooms as necessary in a dwelling.”
A number of new developments are now catering for ‘rightsizers’ in Brisbane, including Prominence Residences in Kangaroo Point.
Simon Caulfield of Place Kangaroo Point is marketing the full-floor apartments, which are priced from $3.4 million.
“Our buyers are hyper local within the blue-chip, inner-city suburbs of Brisbane,” Mr Caulfield said.
“Most are in larger homes, but their children are staying longer in their 20s and the benefit of the location is attractive without the maintenance of a large home.”
And Mr Caulfield’s clients aren’t the only ones looking for luxury apartments with at least three bedrooms in prime suburbs.
He and his wife, fellow real estate agent Courtney Maguire, have just bought a house-sized apartment in Banc in Toowong after selling their luxury, four-bedroom unit in Walan at 2 Scott St, Kangaroo Point, for $4.45 million.
Over in New Farm, ‘rightsizers’ Miles and Juanita Browning are looking for a one-floor apartment after raising their two children, Zac, 3, and Millie, 7.in a house-sized apartment at Cutters Landing for the past six years.
“We don’t have the time to do the garden and look after all the aspects you would with a normal sized house and land,” Mr Browning said.
“We also don’t want to compromise on space and we want security, so the idea of one apartment on one level gives us both of those things.”
Mr Browning, a physiotherapist, said they wanted to stay in New Farm because the suburb had enough outdoor facilities for children to need a backyard.
“When we first moved in (to the building), we were the only ones with children,” he said.
“All the apartments from our entry point now have kids on every level, ranging from a one-year-old, all the way through to young teenagers.
“I think people are realising that they have busy jobs, they want their weekends for their kids and their family and not spent doing all the tasks you have to do to maintain a house.”
BRISBANE’S MOST SOUGHT-AFTER ‘RIGHTSIZER’ SUBURBS
1. Bulimba
2. St Lucia
3. Brisbane CBD
4. Teneriffe
5. Hamilton
6. West End
7. South Brisbane
8. Kangaroo Point
9. Toowong
10. Newstead
(Source: Knight Frank Research)
NEW DEVELOPMENTS CATERING FOR ‘RIGHTSIZERS’ IN BRISBANE
Banc
160 Oxlade
Le Bain
Lume
Prominence Residences
Skytower
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