Unit prices in Brisbane have risen six times faster than Sydney's over the past year, data shows
Brisbane is rapidly closing the gap on Sydney in the unit market, with PropTrack data showing the Queensland capital's median unit price now sits at $864,000 — just $17,000 below Sydney's $881,000 median.
Brisbane's unit values rose 18% over the past 12 months, compared with growth of just 2.8% in Sydney. If the differential in growth rates is sustained, Brisbane is on course to surpass Sydney as Australia's most expensive capital city for units.
The data, which compares median unit prices across Greater Capital City Statistical Areas for capitals and SA4 regions for major regional cities, shows the two most expensive unit markets in Australia are both on the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast — not in Sydney. The Sunshine Coast holds the top position with a $983,000 median, followed closely by the Gold Coast at $966,000. Sydney ranks third.
Newcastle and Wollongong follow at around $800,000, ahead of Adelaide ($704,000), Perth ($695,000), Toowoomba ($645,000) and Bunbury ($636,000). Melbourne sits in 11th place at $623,000, just ahead of Hobart ($609,000) and Canberra ($606,000).
Home price growth
Annual, PropTrack Home Price Index
Source: PropTrack
Units outpacing houses nationally
Across Australia, unit prices grew 6.7% over the past year, compared with 5.6% for houses — a reversal of the typical trend in which house price growth leads.
REA Group senior economist Anne Flaherty (pictured right) attributed the shift to affordability pressures pushing more buyers toward the unit market. "Despite recent declines, home prices remain close to record highs and houses have become out of reach for a growing share of buyers, driving more to the unit market," she said.
"Given the higher average mortgage size for houses, this property type is also typically more sensitive to interest rate rises."
Perth and Darwin both recorded unit price growth of nearly 17% over the year, while Adelaide was up almost 14%. Smaller regional centres outpaced even those figures, with Townsville up 25% and Toowoomba up 24%. Canberra was the only capital where unit prices grew more slowly than Sydney, rising just 0.6%.
Queensland apartment supply skews upmarket
Flaherty pointed to the composition of new apartment supply in Queensland as a significant factor behind the state's strong unit price growth.
"The kinds of apartments being built in Queensland are having a really big impact," she said. "Nationally, 55% of new apartment developments are priced at $1.5 million or above. In Queensland, it's 73% of apartment developments."
She added that elevated construction costs had pushed developers to focus on higher-value product. "Because it's so expensive to build, they need to focus on the high end," she said.
Lifestyle and value driving Brisbane demand
According to Luke O'Kelly, principal at Ray White West End, the value proposition of inner-city units was increasingly attractive to first-home buyers priced out of the detached housing market. "As Brisbane housing prices have gone up dramatically, units have become a lot more of an attractive purchase," he said.
"Instead of buying a million-dollar house further out, they're buying an inner city apartment. You can buy something with less maintenance and all the facilities rather than having to buy further out for the same budget."
On the Sunshine Coast, where the median unit price is approaching $1 million, local real estate agent Yianni Mooney said downsizing owner-occupiers were the primary buyer group, particularly at the higher end of the market. Equity accumulated through strong house price growth had given many downsizers the capacity to be selective.
"They've probably sold their family home for more money than what they expected and they've got a pretty healthy budget," Mooney said. "For a lot of people, this might be their last purchase before aged living, and they want to get it right so they're happy to pay a bit more for the right location, a view or a northern aspect."
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