BUYERS from southern states will be tree-green with envy as we reveal Brisbane’s most affordable acreage suburbs within 20km of the CBD.
CoreLogic analysis has identified 14 suburbs where you can live on land, lots of land, for less than $1 million and still be within a half-marathon of Brisbane CBD’s Queen Street Mall.
Using an automated valuation model (AVM) it analysed the value of properties with a land area of more than 4000sq m in each suburb to assess a median value.
According to the results, the cheapest buy-in was at Eatons Hill on Brisbane’s north where you could purchase your acreage dream for just over $780,000. Eatons Hill also had a healthy six per cent capital gain in value during the past year.
Acreage priced below $800,000 could also be found in Warner and Pinjarra Hills, while Moggill, Bellbowrie, Anstead and Bunya were priced below $900,000 for rural residential.
The analysis revealed acreage property had experienced healthy long-term 10-year gains.
CoreLogic head of research, Cameron Kusher, said tracking the price cycle of acreage markets could be challenging.
“You don’t typically see many transactions in the market and it’s a very specific buyer for that kind of property,” he said.
Mr Kusher said while buyers moving to Queensland from southern states were driving price growth for near-city housing on traditional size lots at present, acreage provided good, long-term prospects for purchasers.
“It’s never going to be a market that consistently ‘shoots the lights out’, but when the demand does turn, you can get some pretty strong increases in values over a pretty short period of time,” he said.
Ray White Rural director, Jez McNamara agreed lifestyle acreage price cycles could be a little bit difficult to track.
“It’s a very slow moving market that’s based on emotion rather than need,” he said.
“It’s very hard to do a comparative analysis as well because there’s not only different houses but different infrastructures.
“You might have some with large sheds or stables or horse complexes or beautiful gardens — it varies greatly.”
Mr McNamara said there were opportunities for buyers to get in now and enjoy long-term benefits.
“I think the cycle is still growing — people are getting more confident to go out a bit further and get that dream home,” he said.
“You look at a New Farm house where you’re paying $1.1 million for 400sq m with a rundown Queenslander, or you can go to Camp Mountain or Chandler and buy five acres with a nice house on it. It starts to make sense for a lot of families.”
Mr McNamara said infrastructure which helped reduce commuting time would continue to benefit near-city acreage.
“Through Brookfield, Pullenvale and Fig Tree Pocket — those sorts of areas. Legacy Way tunnel has really changed that commute to Brisbane,” he said.
“I got back to New Farm from Brookfield in about 15 minutes using Legacy Way — I was shocked actually.”
Mr McNamara said as Brisbane continued to grow, so would the value of commutable acreage.
“When you can buy acreage this close to the Brisbane CBD for under $1 million — I just see nothing but upside in it,” he said.
According to realestate.com.au Moggill has the highest number of acreage properties listed on the market at the moment — 30. While there are none in the Eatons Hill area.
Originally Published: www.news.com.au