Brisbane and Queensland

Hotspotting

Brisbane and Queensland increasingly are emerging as the property market destination with leading metrics pointing to out-performance in real estate.

A couple of months ago Hotspotting published its annual report with Australia’s largest comparison website Canstar - the one we call Rising Stars – which analyses the capital city and state regional markets across Australia and ranks them for future growth prospects based on five key metrics.

And the leading market jurisdiction to emerge from that process was Queensland, including both Brisbane and Regional Queensland.

The Sunshine State has also, more recently, achieved nation-leading status in the latest population data published by the ABS.

Finance data also confirms an increase in loans to both owner-occupiers and investors, with the average loan size in Queensland at an all-time high.

In the Rising Stars report each year, we use five key metrics to rank the 14 major market jurisdictions in the nation - the eight capital cities and six state regional markets.

The report with Canstar ranks the 14 market jurisdictions from 1 to 14 on their prospects for growth in the coming year.

The 2024 edition of Rising Stars ranked Brisbane No.1 - the market with the best prospects to provide growth in the next year or so.

And the No.1 regional market in the nation, using this methodology, was Queensland.

Brisbane was a standout on all the five metrics we used to arrive at our ratings - sales activity trends, recent price movements, vacancy rates, rental growth trends and infrastructure spending.

Regional Queensland ranked in the top 4 nationally on three of the five metrics and it also produced solid ratings on the others.

The trend we call The Exodus to Affordable Lifestyle is still pumping, with large numbers of people relocating from the biggest cities to regional areas in pursuit of a different lifestyle at cheaper prices.

The latest data and analysis from a range of sources, including the ABS, Regional Australia Institute and real estate data company CoreLogic, confirms that this remains a major demographic force, with significant consequences for real estate.

And Queensland is the national leader in this category, gaining the most of any state or territory from internal migration in 2023 – that’s people moving from one part of Australia to another.

The only other state or territory to achieve a net gain in its population from internal migration was WA. All others were net losers – which means many Australians are relocating and most of them are going to Queensland for its climate, lifestyle and relevant affordability for homes.

This is being reflected in the price data. According to PropTrack, Brisbane unit prices have increased 17% in the year ending 30 June, while Regional Queensland rose 12% - while for houses, Brisbane rose 14% and Regional Queensland 11%.

This ranks both Brisbane and Regional Queensland among the best in the nation on capital growth – and the key factor is that all the indicators suggest that the out-performance of Queensland markets, generally speaking, is set to continue.