Brisbane's once-rough suburbs selling fastest

Brisbane suburbs once considered to have rough reputations are now the city’s fastest selling.

Houses sold fastest in Chermside, Inala, Chermside West, Ferny Hills and Banyo over the June quarter, according to Domain Group data.

Perhaps most surprising was Inala, the suburb recently approached by SBS to film Brisbane’s version of TV show Struggle Street. It was also listed as one of the worst suburbs for house theft in 2016.

But the suburb’s houses sold second fastest in Brisbane with an average of 25 days on the market.

It was only beaten by Chermside where houses spent an average of 24 days before being snapped up.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said the lower end of the market was performing best.

“There has been big changes in Brisbane’s market that has moved down to the low priced areas,” Dr Wilson said.

“These value suburbs at the bottom end are keeping the market afloat.”

Local agents said their suburbs’ reputations had improved over recent years.

Inala’s Coulson Real Estate principal Brian MacDiarmid said stigmas were not enough to drive buyers away.

“Old suburbs change,” he said. “I think the bad reputation has already gone.”

Mr MacDiarmid said a granny flat boom was a large factor.

“Since the council relaxed rules on granny flats, we have seen a lot of houses take advantage of their big block sizes in Inala and granny flats have popped up everywhere,” he said. “They are extremely popular.”

Chermside property targets investors. Photo: Supplied

Raine and Horne Chermside principal Kim McHardy said people’s perception of the suburb was changing.

“Originally there was a high number of housing commission homes which have been replaced with more modern houses over the years. So, it’s undergoing a change,” Mr McHardy said.

“Both investors and homeowners are attracted to Chermside and Chermside West because of the prices and location to the CBD,” he said. “There is easy access to schools and the airport. We’re certainly well catered for here.”

And Brisbane’s spilt property market saw house sales push well ahead of units.

Top performing suburbs saw houses generally spend close to half the amount of time on the market as units.

Greenslopes was recorded as the fastest selling suburb for units with an average of 43 days, followed by Auchenflower with 47 days.

They were followed by inner city suburbs Carina, New Farm, Toowong and Coorparoo.