The North East precinct has experienced the most new development over the last seven years of the apartment cycle, followed by the CBD/Spring Hill, Toowong, and Kangaroo Point precincts.
CBD Spring Hill
The CBD Spring Hill precinct consists of the entire suburb of Brisbane CBD and adjoining Spring Hill, and comprises the entire 4000 post code area. The precinct is bounded by the Brisbane River to the south, Gregory Terrace to the north, Barry Parade to the East, and Hale Street to the West. The precinct contains the Gardens Point campus of the Queensland University of Technology, and is just south of the Kelvin Grove campus.
Kangaroo Point
The Kangaroo Point precinct covers Kangaroo Point and part of East Brisbane. The precinct is bounded by the Brisbane River, Vulture Street, and Norman Creek. Kangaroo Point has experienced substantial high rise development in recent years, offering views of the Brisbane River, as well as the Brisbane CBD. Much of the precinct is apartment buildings built in the 1990s.
North East
The North East precinct is perhaps the most dynamic of defined Inner Brisbane Apartment area precincts. The precinct includes Fortitude Valley, New Farm, and Newstead, and is bounded by the Brisbane River to the south, east and west, and Breakfast Creek Road and the railway to the north. The North East precinct has been targeted by Brisbane City Council for a number of urban renewal projects, including residential redevelopment. Major residential redevelopment has taken place along and around Macquarie Street on former industrial sites and wool stores
West End
The West End precinct includes South Bank, West End, South Brisbane and Highgate Hill. The precinct includes a number of educational and cultural institutions, including Southbank Institute of TAFE, the State Library, Art Gallery, Museum, and the Southbank Gardens. A pedestrian footbridge also provides direct access to the Gardens Point Campus of Queensland University of Technology. New apartment development has typically comprised smaller apartment projects; however, the precinct contains significant industrial land, offering substantial future potential for apartment redevelopment.
East River
The East River precinct follows the eastern bank of the Brisbane River and includes the suburbs of Norman Park, Hawthorne, and Bulimba. There has been limited apartment development in the East River precinct; however, this is expected to increase with the upgrading of Oxford Street and the extension of the River Cat service to Bulimba to allow more direct access to the Brisbane CBD. Apartment development will be dominated by projects on the now disused waterfront.
Toowong
The Toowong precinct includes the riverfront areas of Milton and Auchenflower, extending to St Lucia, and includes the suburbs of Toowong and Taringa. The precinct is centred around the Toowong retail and office centre, located above Toowong railway station. Increasing office development has also been occurring behind Coronation Drive in Milton and Auchenflower. The other major feature of the precinct is the University of Queensland, located in St Lucia.
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SE Qld market snapshot
June 2002 No. 170
A picture is worth a thousand words. So too, Matusik Property Insights believe, is a good graph. Below is their current overview of the status of the residential market across South East Queensland.
Matusik Property Insights Pty Ltd
Click image to view PDF File.
BRISBANE'S YOUR SAFEST BET
ANYONE looking for the next boom town shouldn't cast their net further than Brisbane. Figures released by property experts PRD show that Brisbane's real estate prices have outperformed even bullish Sydney in the past 12 months - growing by 19 per cent compared with 2pc.
BIS Shrapnel predicts there will be 27pc growth over the next three years for inner-city Brisbane property.
And all this is achieved from a lower base: PRD research shows the median price for Sydney is $315,000, where the median price for Brisbane is $176,000.
The research reveals that the Brisbane and Sydney markets work in alternate five-year cycles -when Sydney wanes, Brisbane booms - so now might be the right time. Many Sydney-based developers have taken the hint and spread their wings to take in Brisbane.
Sydney-based Australand is building The Docks, which will comprise 148 apartments in two medium-rise towers.
Already 40 per cent of buyers have come from Sydney and the development offers 4,000 sq m of recreational areas, a gym, sauna, pool and tennis courts.
'We are also building another, more exclusive development right on the river on Holman Street in Brisbane," Australand general manager David Lawrence said.
'When vacancy rates are so high in Sydney and rents have fallen, this is a pretty good place to be."
Lawrence said an average, $365,000 unit at The Docks would cost about $750,000 in Sydney.
David Pradella, joint managing director of Pradella Developments, has witnessed Brisbane's coming of age as a wise choice for investment.
Pradella is building a residential precinct in inner-city Roma Street Parkland.
"There is nowhere else in the world where you could live on the edge of a lush oasis just 500m from the CBD, and because it is Brisbane it is going to be very affordable for the Sydney market," a Pradella spokesperson said.
The Aurora in Queen Street, which is being developed by APH Properties, will be a single 67-level tower - and it will become the tallest residential apartment building in the city when completed in 2005.
SKY HIGH: Brisbane. Picture: HEATH MISSEN
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