Good news for Brisbane property owners: Values rise again for 2nd consecutive month

There were interruptions throughout the month due to Easter and Anzac Day holidays, but these did not seem to alter market activity. Buyer activity on the ground remained strong, and the market continued to pick up pace.

New listings tightened further during April, according to CoreLogic, compared to the month prior. New listings were down -22.5 per cent compared to the same period last year. The volume of sales across Brisbane also declined -22.3 per cent over the last 12 months, according to CoreLogic.

The decrease in sales is proportional to the decline in new listings, indicating that the properties listed for sale are finding buyers in the current market. Total listings were down only slightly by 1.8 per cent compared to the same period last year. There were 18,162 properties listed for sale in Brisbane during April. However, this number remains over 30 per cent below the monthly average of over 30,000 listings in 2019 and previous years, as reported by SQM Research. Supply is an ongoing issue, which has no doubt contributed to putting a floor under further property price falls.

In April, the Queensland government also introduced changes to the frequency in which landlords can increase the rent on their investment properties. As of 1 July, a lessor is not permitted to increase rent in a new lease if it was increased less than 12 months ago. Therefore, rental price increases that are more frequent than every 12 months are no longer permitted in Queensland.

In a rental report issued by the RBA, just over 70 per cent of all rental properties have lease agreements of 12 months or more already in place, so this is not likely to impact the majority of investors. It is, however, another small disincentive for property investors who have been hit with a number of proposed and legislated changes over recent years. It certainly does impact investor sentiment and, in turn, the number of investors willing to get into the market. This is especially true when a lot of the changes appear to be retrospective.

Despite these changes, the market appears to be getting stronger every week. Buyers are out in higher volumes at open homes. Auction attendance is strong, and bidder registrations remain elevated. Auction clearance rates have increased from a weekly average of 53 per cent across March to 62 per cent in April, according to Domain. For every property, there appears to be more than a single buyer, so demand is definitely outstripping supply. Fundamentally, this is what is putting upward pressure on prices once again.

Dwelling values in Brisbane April 2023

Brisbane dwelling values, reported by CoreLogic, increased for the second month in a row, with 0.3 per cent growth throughout April. This has also resulted in a turnaround in the quarterly growth for Brisbane dwelling values, which is now positive once again. The median value for a Brisbane dwelling is currently $705,016, which is $6,945 MORE than last month.

Source: CoreLogic

PropTrack data confirmed the same trend, with 0.14 per cent dwelling price growth reported throughout April.

Source: PropTrack

The price segmentation data for all dwellings from CoreLogic up to the end of March 2023 still shows that properties in the bottom 25 per cent of values are outperforming higher-value properties. In the first quarter of 2023, the lowest 25 per cent of property values that sold showed a decline in values of -0.6 per cent in Brisbane.

Alternatively, the top 25 per cent of properties that sold showed a median value price decline of -2.1 per cent.

One explanation for this is that units are typically filtered in the lower-value price segment. We know that the unit market has been outperforming the housing market in Brisbane over the last 12-plus months. There may also be some compositional bias based on what has been selling, with lower listing and sales volumes, and therefore a smaller volume of transactions would have contributed to this data.

Brisbane house prices April 2023

House values continue to recover in Brisbane, according to CoreLogic. With a further 0.2 per cent change in the median value throughout April, it is evident that prices have stabilised. Quarterly, house prices are still slightly down by -0.1 per cent, as reported by CoreLogic.

The median value for a house in Greater Brisbane is now $781,881, which is $9,861 MORE than last month.

Source: CoreLogic

PropTrack data also confirms this trend with 0.17 per cent growth in house values for April reported.

Source: PropTrack

Brisbane unit values April 2023

Unit price growth in Brisbane continues to outperform house price growth across the city. In April, CoreLogic data showed 0.9 per cent unit price growth, with quarterly data now demonstrating a 1.1 per cent increase in values.

The median value for a unit across Greater Brisbane is $498,374, which is $5,959 MORE than last month.

Source: CoreLogic

While CoreLogic data is reporting that unit values have outperformed house values throughout April, PropTrack data shows a different trend where units have retracted ever so slightly by -0.02 per cent.

Source: PropTrack

Rental market in Brisbane April 2023

There has been little change in the rental market across Brisbane throughout April. Vacancy rates remain well below 1 per cent across the city, an indication that supply is limited for most property types.

The change in rents has been more significant in the unit market over the last 12 months compared to the housing market. Unit rents in Brisbane have increased 16.5 per cent based on CoreLogic data, whereas house rents have increased 10.3 per cent. The level of escalation in rents across both segments of the market is well in excess of inflation, which is putting more stress on tenants who are having to find additional income to cover their cost of living.