Brisbane house prices 21% more affordable than Sydney’s and 11% more than Melbourne's: RP Data

Queensland sales volumes jumped by 33% in July as owner-occupier buyers surged into the market to avoid the August stamp duty rises, according to RP Data’s sales analysis.

“The surge in buyer numbers suggests that buyer confidence may not be as low as many thought,” national research director Tim Lawless notes.

“The surge came at a time when the threat of higher interest rates was still quite real.”

While capital gains are likely to be a long way off, the foundations of the Brisbane property market are looking quite firm, with Lawless also noting the magnitude of price declines across the Brisbane housing market had eased.

“The result was still negative at -1.3%, however it was a substantial improvement from the falls being recorded earlier in the year, the worst of which was seen over the March quarter when values were down 3%,” Lawless says.

“We have also been seeing the ‘value gap’ between Brisbane and the other major capitals expanding.

“Brisbane house prices are now 21% more affordable than Sydney’s and 11% more affordable than Melbourne prices.

“The gap hasn’t been that wide between Brisbane and Sydney since mid-2007, and the current price gap between Brisbane and Melbourne hasn’t been this wide since late 2003,” he says.

“This renewed affordability proposition may be attractive enough to entice more interstate migrants across the border as interstate migration into Queensland over the March quarter of 2011 was at the lowest level since 1981.”

Source: RP Data