As per usual, the media has had a lot to say lately about the local market with different publications touting different angles on what we are likely to see happen in property over the coming months and years.  We have seen whispers of oversupply, vacancy rates have been questioned and while it is all very interesting – at HS Brisbane Property, we are more concerned with factual data.

To get a truly good grasp on what is happening in our local market, firstly we have to break it down correctly.  Often we see in media articles the Brisbane CBD and the surrounding inner city suburbs all thrown into the same ‘pot’.  They are actually two extremely different markets, with different trends and from a real estate point of view – are two completely different products.

In today’s article, we pin the two markets; Brisbane CBD vs Inner City Suburbs against each other to see exactly how each stacks up - to assist you in choosing where to make your next investment!

Let’s start with one of the media’s favourite current ‘buzzwords’.  Oversupply.  Currently Brisbane is in a growth upswing, in the past few years we have had more infrastructure established across our capital than ever before – think of the number of bridges and tunnels opened, new commercial buildings erected and upgrades to motorways and highways happening.  All of this has been done with good reason, our population is soaring – with the constant flow of people moving from across Australia to ‘The Sunshine State’ we are continually absorbing more and more people into the region and where there is population change and growth, there is the need for new infrastructure. 

With this of course, comes the need for more housing – more units, more homes, more apartment buildings.  So while we are experiencing an influx of new developments across Brisbane, it really does suit the current theme of ‘expansion’ in all areas across the region.

The best way to quantify the current number of dwellings and whether our level of supply matches the level of demand, is to take a look at the vacancy across the different areas.

This is where the Brisbane CBD truly shines above the competing areas of the inner suburbs.  In the recent data release from the REIQ, vacancy rates for the CBD were sitting at a very healthy 2.7%.  When we take a look back to 2013, when the rates were closer to 3.2% you can see that even though we have seen new buildings developed across the city, the demand for properties to rent in the middle of town is extremely high and people investing in the city are in an even strong position today!

Now lets compare these figures to that of the Inner City market (suburbs such as New Farm, Teneriffe, Toowong, Red Hill etc).  While back in 2008 these areas enjoyed a vacancy rate of just 2.6%, we are now seeing them sit around the 3% mark, much higher.  It is these areas where the majority of the developments are happening in the near future which begs the question, what could happen to vacancy rates in this area as we move into the future.

This week we did a quick investigation using one of the leading property portals, www.realestate.coma.u and had a look at the current number of residences offered for rent in the CBD vs the Inner City market. 

Currently in the CBD there are only 285 units available for rent, when you consider there are around 9000 units in the city, this is quite an impressive number.  When we switched our search to the inner city suburbs we found over 1,440 for rent, over four times the amount available.

What do this mean for investors?  This is great data to arm yourself with when choosing ‘where’ to make your next investment.  In our eyes, the Brisbane CBD is almost unbeatable when it comes to value for money and a solid future investment.

For more information, contact Hannah today on 0419 782 133.