Brisbane's median house price now $655,000

Brisbane’s median house price has hit a new high of $655,000, according to the Real Estate Institute of Queensland.

Described by REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella as a “dependable performer”, Brisbane’s annual median house price grew by 1.6 per cent over the last quarter to December and 4.1 per cent in the 12 months up to then.

“This is the consistent, sustainable growth that the Brisbane house market has become known for – and it is great that it’s such a solid performer,” she said.

The unit market fell 4 per cent during the same quarter, with supply issues finally gaining traction that many had forecast, Ms Mercorella said. 

However, she said, that over the past 12 months the unit market had only fallen 1.1 per cent and over the past five years the market was still in positive territory, having grown 11.3 per cent.

“These supply issues have, as expected, had a small impact on prices, however, we know that the market is an excellent self-regulator and developers are already scaling back projects scheduled for this year and 2018,” Ms Mercorella said.

She admitted that the state of the unit market in parts of Greater Brisbane, such as the Redlands, where prices fell a startling 10.2 per cent in just one quarter, was less stable.

“It would be fair to say this is a fragile market at the moment,” she said. However, she stressed that the market was still 7 per cent higher than it was five years ago.

The star performer for the year – and the December quarter – was the Sunshine Coast, which rose 6.1 per cent over 12 months.

It now has a median price of $545,000 – that’s 20.7 per cent higher than it was five years ago.

Not far behind the Sunshine Coast is the Gold Coast house market, which outperformed almost every region in Queensland over the past 12 months, growing by 5.8 per cent to hit a new median house price of $575,000. The Gold Coast market also had a strong quarter, growing 2.6 per cent to reach a quarterly median of $590,000.

The Gold Coast unit market bucked the state-wide trend of falling unit prices, adding 1 per cent over the quarter and 5.5 per cent over the past 12 months. The continued massive infrastructure and construction programs have attracted workers and been a significant driver of population growth, Ms Mercorella said.