The Real Estate Institute of Queensland's quarterly market report is the definitive set of stats on our marketplace, reporting only on confirmed sales transactions and allowing a true snapshot of activity across the state. Here's some of their findings for Brisbane:   In the 12 months to the end of March Brisbane's median house price sale was $584,951. Almost all (96%) of these sellers made a profit on their sale with prices up 6.7% on a year earlier ...

Property investors breathed a collective sigh of relief when this year's Federal budget retained current arrangements for negative gearing. So what exactly is negative gearing and why do real estate agents, and the REIQ as their peak body in Queensland, lobby for this tax relief to continue? Firstly a 'myth-buster': This is not a tax break that lines the fat pockets of landlords and we'd argue one of the biggest beneficiaries of negative gearing is actually tenants. In ro...

Although Sydney and Melbourne home values are recording strong levels of capital growth currently, the rate of growth is much slower than that recorded between the 'boom' period of 2001 and 2004.   When considering the current surge in Sydney and Melbourne home values, it is worthwhile revisiting how strong conditions were during the housing boom of 2001 through to 2004.  Although the rate of capital growth in Sydney and to a lesser degree Melbourn...

At present there is an ongoing debate whether First Home Buyers should be allowed to dip into their superannuation, in order to assist first home buyer housing affordability across Australia.  Essentially, is this an appropriate and sustainable decision or a quick fix? First, let's take the average superannuation value of $15,000 and the national median house price in capital cities of $692,000. Assuming a First Home Buyer is allowed to 100% access of their superannuation amou...

Backdrop Australia's economic transition is having profound impacts upon the property market, and precipitous falls in key commodities are accelerating these influences.  Consequently, the economy is operating at multiple speeds, with growth in the service sectors (health, education and tourism) not making up declines in the mining and mining service sectors.  Hence, housing markets face a fast changing backdrop in terms of vacancy rates, rental growth and interstate migrati...

Remember the childhood story of the tortoise and the hare? And how the tortoise steadily gained upon the hare, and won the race due to the hare's laidback attitude knowing he was fast? Such a 'race' can be likened to our current property market situation, whereby there is a two-paced market. There is a variance in the speed of median price growth between capital city and regional areas, and between states. For example Sydney and Brisbane's median price growth travel at a d...

An economic recovery is beginning on the Gold, Sunshine coasts and Greater Brisbane according to the latest rental vacancy rate information from the Real Estate of Queensland. Rental vacancy rates are frequently seen early indicators of tradesmen and women and professional project managers - moving to areas as new jobs begin to emerge. A rental vacancy of 2.5 per cent or lower is regarded as a tight market, with rental properties snapped up quickly, suggesting just 2.5 per cent of the...

Over the first quarter of 2015, rental rates on a national basis have risen by 1.3 per cent for houses and units, while,
across the combined capital cities, advertised weekly house and unit rents have risen 1.2 per cent over the three months to the end of March 2015. Key rental statistics to March Quarter 2015 Houses $410 Median rent 0.0% Quarterly Change 0.0% YTD Change 2.5% ...

Across Australia, homes are being owned for longer, with the average number of years a capital city house is owned climbing from 6.8 years a decade ago to 10.5 years over the past twelve months. An analysis of the homes which were sold in 2014 showed that across the combined capital cities, houses had been owned for an average of 10.5 years and units for 8.7 years. A year earlier the average hold period of those homes sold was 10.1 years for houses and 8.4 years for units. Across the reg...

The majority of Brisbane suburbs recorded strong growth in both houses and units throughout 2014, with some suburbs recording unprecedented annual growth in median prices. Figure 1 provides a snapshot of Brisbane's Key Market Indicators. KEY MARKET INDICATORS Change from Last Year Half Year House sales Decrease Decrease House median Increase Increase ...