The Independent asked Adam Gray, director and principal of PRDnationwide New Farm, to reflect on recent real estate trends in the Indie’s patch and ponder what the future holds for both investors and individual homebuyers.
The last five years in real estate has been considerably turbulent. The market has been either racing ahead, coming to a complete stop or in some sections of the market, dropping off a cliff.
Now at the beginning of a new decade it is interesting to ponder what will happen over the next two to three years. Having been in real estate for over 20 years, I have seen cycles not dissimilar to the current situation. Now that we have had the full effect of the Global Financial Crisis with regard to the normal residential market, I believe the next few years will be steady as she goes.
In the New Farm/Newstead area, I expect all prices to increase steadily from their “current market value”. I say “current market value” because some owners have not realised that the price of their property has dropped considerably from the height of the boom at the end of 2007.
The upper end of the market has seen considerable price reductions over the past two years. It is interesting to note that this end of the market has started to bounce back and we could see some higher than expected growth for properties over $1 million.
The residential market around the $500,000 price bracket was not greatly affected by the downturn over the past two years. We have noticed continued price growth and expect this to be a very stable market over the coming years.
With the lack of new supply of apartments in this area, we can only suggest that rental pricing will start to increase again. It is the simple case of high demand for the best area of Brisbane with limited added supply.
We are currently marketing a project in Newstead called Aris and we have noticed a high level of enquiry from owner occupiers and first home buyers. As nearly all the apartments are under $500,000, it goes to show that tenants are realising that now is the time to buy to avoid having to pay higher rents over the coming years.
The introduction of Mirvac’s and FKP’s Newstead Riverpark will bring a whole new perspective on Newstead and surrounding suburbs. With the addition of such an elite project, we expect pricing in neighbouring areas to rise considerably.
