Brisbane's housing market is poised to attract many potential homebuyers this year, supported by its infrastructure pipeline and the increasing interstate migration, according to a forecast by the Finance Brokers Association of Australia (FBAA).
The affordability gap between Brisbane and the two biggest capital city markets, Sydney and Melbourne, has influenced the influx of people to Queensland, boosting the housing demand in Brisbane.
FBAA said Sydney's property cycles, in particular, have been the driving force of interstate migration to Brisbane.
"The real effect of this migration increase has come into question and rightly so, how influential can an additional 30,000 people be to an entire capital city market. The driving force is the affordability gap between Sydney and Melbourne," FBAA said.
Recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Sydney is currently 64% more expensive than Brisbane.
"Each time we've seen the price gap rise, we've seen an exodus of people out of New South Wales to Queensland resulting in Brisbane price increases," FBAA said.
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Furthermore, the pipeline of infrastructure developments in Brisbane might boost its appeal to potential buyers.
Some of the anticipated developments include the Brisbane Airport expansion, Brisbane Metro, Northshore Hamilton Precinct, Cross River Rail, Brisbane Live, and Queens Wharf redevelopment.
"The evolution of Brisbane combined with the proven market drivers will be critical to the direction in which Brisbane's property cycle moves. In terms of price rises, we'll require the imbalance of supply and demand to favour the demand," FBAA said.
According to a separate forecast by Domain, Brisbane is slated to record the second-highest price growth this year next to Sydney.
"We forecast the median house price to rise by 8% in 2020 and in 2021. This follows a period of soft price growth when Brisbane's house prices rose only 5% in the previous three years," said Trent Shire, an economist at Domain.
With this price-growth projection, Brisbane could witness its median house price go over the $600,000 mark for the first time.
