The quiet Brisbane suburbs where prestige buyers are splashing the cash
In the heart of Brisbane’s sleepy, family-friendly suburbs you’ll find pockets of luxury riverside homes in hot demand as families flee the concrete jungle for a COVID-free castle on a big block.
Amid the trend that’s seen luxury buyers across the globe flee the big city lights, quiet suburbs such as Graceville, Fig Tree Pocket and Chelmer are flourishing, with median price growth of up to 20 per cent recorded over the past year alone.
McGrath Paddington agent Alex Jordan has long witnessed a rising appetite for palatial homes in key riverside hot spots, but says that hunger has recently become ravenous with luxury homes near top schools sitting on a pile of gold.
He says out-of-state home hunters have played a vital role in pushing up those prices.
Graceville has seen a 21.1 per cent house price rise over the past 12 months, according to Domain’s latest quarterly House Price Report.
The suburb now boasts a median house price of $1,047,500 – up 46.3 per cent from five years ago.
In nearby Brookfield, house prices climbed 19.4 per cent over the past year to $1.243 million.
Fig Tree Pocket and Chelmer also grew 12.7 per cent and 6.7 per cent, respectively, to $1.31 million and $1.28 million.
Jordan says the pandemic-fuelled shift towards bigger blocks in prestigious school catchments has reinvigorated the market.
“Education is the number one driver … these suburbs offer some of the best public and private schools in Queensland. And then there’s the lifestyle … they are more established and they’re leafy,” he says.
The increased interest helped Graceville post a new suburb house price record of $6.3 million for 59 Molonga Terrace in September last year through Heath Williams of Place Estate Agents New Farm.
The price was a cool couple of million dollars higher than the previous record.
“What I’ve noticed is the interstate demand is unprecedented,” Jordan says.
“Brisbane has never seen this level of interest. Of the last five properties we sold in the past two weeks, three of them were to interstate buyers.”
“They are paying a lot more for the same product and they are outbidding the locals upwards of 5 per cent.”
“It’s also an example of how fast the market is moving … a house on the river at 80 Cubberla Street, in Fig Tree Pocket on a block of over 10,000 square metres, sold last year [in July] for $3.15 million. And we just sold it again for $4.6 million.”
With homes in these pockets still undervalued compared to the city’s more iconic hot spots such as Kangaroo Point and Ascot, Jordan says significant growth has been inevitable.
Jordan is currently selling 95 Lather Road in neighbouring Bellbowrie with a guide of $2.55 million- $2.65 million.
Jason Adcock of Adcock Prestige says the village feel of those quiet neighbourhoods has sent demand sky-high.
“Graceville itself is only around seven kilometres from the city and it’s got an incredible set of infrastructure,” he says.
“It’s also got the train while having a highly regarded state primary school.
“And that’s why people want to spend millions there now … we’re changing our minds on prestige properties.
“People are looking for blocks around 1300 square metres, which is almost double the average.”
In the past year, Adcock says, multiple suburb house price records in riverside suburbs have been broken – including 39 Richmond Street, Corinda, which he sold for $5.1 million a year ago to a US expat.
“We then sold 24 Glen Rd, Toowong, for $7.3 million and for a million over the reserve price at auction … that was a suburb record.”
He is currently running a sale campaign for 8 Long Street West Graceville which he guides at $3.5 million.
Dixon Estate Agents director Patrick Dixon says that, while a shortage of prestige stock has helped send prices skyward across riverside suburbs, he feels buyer mindsets are driving growth.
“It has been brought home to people during the pandemic that to have a yard [is everything].
But people are also loving their gardening and their landscaping again and these things have been traditional pastimes that are booming again.
“It was out of fashion for a while but now [it’s all about] big blocks again,” he says.
He and his co-agent Jack Dixon are accepting expressions of interest for 85 Longman Terrace Chelmer which they guide at $4 million.
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