Ultra-wealthy buyers prop up Australia’s hottest real estate market

Demand for housing and skyrocketing prices have no signs of slowing in South-East Queensland as the region continues to grow eight years out from the Olympics.

Queensland, and in particular the south-east, is booming.

Some 268 suburbs across the state sit in the $1 million price club, or nearly one in five, according to REA Group.

The Sunshine State trails only NSW for million-dollar suburbs and a further 37 are expected to join that club in 2025.

Brisbane, which will host the 2032 Games, is the second-most expensive city to buy a house in Australia.

Its median value has climbed to $937,479, according to CoreLogic data released in June.

PropTrack data from July has Brisbane’s median house price annual growth only behind Perth and Adelaide.

The remainder of Queensland only trails Western Australia in annual growth for all dwellings.

Price increases across Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast have been consistent since the COVID-19 pandemic due to interstate and overseas migration.

Queensland’s population increased by about 144,000 from September 2023, including 88,000 overseas arrivals.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland continues to be surprised at quarterly data.

“Each quarter when we look at the data, we keep thinking to ourselves it’s probably peaked now, it’s reached its heights, and then it continues to grow,” chief executive Antonia Mercorella said.

“What the pandemic did is it drove people to property because there’s a sense of security associated with property. It’s a tangible asset, it’s a tangible place where you can invest your money.”

High demand, a lack of supply and construction constraints are ongoing issues.

Ms Mercorella said projects are costing 30 per cent more in Queensland when compared with other jurisdictions.

“We have these competing demands at the moment,” she said.

“There’s no viability for developers or builders to be doing anything at that more affordable end of the market and so the upshot of all of that is that it’s putting this immense pressure on the established housing market.

“It’s almost impossible for people to comprehend the market that we’re in.”

The state government has a plan to deliver one million homes, including 53,500 social properties, by 2046 to keep up with demand.

Some private sector homes will be far out of reach for most Queenslanders, like the “Sovereign Collection” waterfront properties set for construction on the Gold Coast by Singaporean billionaire Ching Chiat Kwong.

Four “Royal Pavilions” are expected to fetch $25 million each and six other penthouses are estimated at $9 million a pop.

These residences cater to the ultra-wealthy and are indicative of the interest in southeast Queensland’s property market, Ms Mercorella said.

“It says a lot about where we are as a state and the strength of our property market,” she said.

“We also have to recognise that there will be many who will be quite disheartened by that and feel like it’s a representation of a property market that is out of reach for so many Queenslanders.”