INVESTORS are on the hunt for properties just a stones throw away from Brisbane’s CBD, steering clear of inner-city living.
Results from the Place Advisory Investor Sentiment Report 2016 shows the preferred investment location was ‘middle Brisbane’ (5km to 10km), jumping from 1 per cent last year to 43 per cent this year.
The popularity of inner-city investment locations dropped from 65 per cent to 40 per cent.
Young professional couple Emily Dinsey and Paul Renouf recently bought a newly renovated five-bedroom, four-bathroom property at Moorooka, after looking for homes within the $600,000 to $650,000 price range.
“We narrowed our search down to the southside pretty much straight away because Paul works as a detective in Logan, so the commute from north Brisbane to Logan would have been too much of a mission for him,” Ms Dinsey said.
She said many inner-city suburbs dropped off their search results as they did not fall within their price parameters.
“The ones that did show up in the search looked like run down, dilapidated, shanty shacks that required a lot of work and a lot more money,” Ms Dinsey said.
“Moorooka is surrounded by affluent suburbs such as Tarragindi and Yeerongpilly so I think it’s a safe bet to say that it will eventually catch up with its neighbours.”
Place Advisory director Lachlan Walker said: “Savvy investors are seeing opportunities to invest in suburbs that are located further from the CBD and employment opportunities, but are closer to public transport services and retail and entertainment precincts”.
Mr Walker said this was due to the affordability and lifestyle factors of those suburbs.
“With continual speculation that the inner Brisbane market is oversupplied, it is no surprise that investors are beginning to search for investments outside of the inner-ring,” he said.
“It has been made clear in our study that the Federal election and uncertainty surrounding the property market has largely impacted investor sentiment in Brisbane, but half of those surveyed believe the market has actually improved in the last 12 months.”
Ms Dinsey said living in middle Brisbane meant she was still close enough to the CBD to enjoy many of the conveniences of city life.
Inner Brisbane: (within 5km) 2015 (65%) 2016 (40%)
Middle Brisbane: (5km-10km) 2015 (1%) 2016 (43%)
Outer Brisbane: (10km+) 2015 (17%) 2016 (12%)
Gold Coast: 2015 (5%) 2016 (10%)
Sunshine Coast: 2015 (8%) 2016 (8%)
Other 2015 n/a 2016 (16%)
Original article published at www.couriermail.com.au by Reshni Ratnam 30/7/16