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| Apartment living in the waterside suburb of Teneriffe |
Brisbane, long regarded by locals as a “big country town”, is the growth epicentre of Australia, currently recording an influx of 1,800 people a week. House prices in the country’s third city have risen 2.6 per cent since January, partly as a result of an increase in the number of owner-occupiers, according to Christopher Joye, managing director of fund manager and property analyst Rismark International.
Historically, the city grew outwards like a pancake but now, in key locations, it is growing in density, height and texture. New residents are finding a range of living options, including homes on the banks of Brisbane’s serpentine river, once neglected but now revered.
The state of Queensland takes pride in its contemporary architecture, recently setting up Heat, a body promoting its ecologically advanced practitioners, and a taxi ride from the new A$340m (£189m) international airport terminal, designed by architects BVN, reveals large-scale, design-led housing schemes with eco features, such as Newstead Circle Riverpark, Gas Works and Portside (designed by Brisbane architects Arkhefield).
South Bank’s urban village is green in the more traditional sense, with the extensive riverside Parklands – 17 hectares of subtropical green spaces, pebbled creeks, the City Botanic Gardens and Streets Beach, Australia’s only inner city beach. Carl Lindgren, managing editor of cultural magazine Map, says he is “constantly reminded how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful, green, clean city”. He cycles to work through the Parklands and often sees possums on his way home at night.
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| Colourful Queenslander houses in Paddington |
Stylish new lifestyle centres are being spawned nearby alongside Fortitude Valley (known as “the Valley”), whose alternative live music scene edged out the red light district in the 1970s and 1980s. In new precincts such as Elizabeth and Edward Street, Emporium, TCB Building and James Street, one-bedroom properties such as the Miro apartments on Robertson Street, between the formerly industrial Valley and New Farm, are attracting young professionals.
New Farm offers warehouse apartments and galleries and renovated Queenslander houses (this year the median price for houses is A$900,000, for apartments it is A$450,000). These timber and tin bungalows, many with verandas and high ceilings, were seen as poor people’s houses by baby boomers escaping Brisbane in the 1960s in search of larger lots and newly built homes but are now sought after.
The author John Birmingham and his lawyer wife, Jane, who live with their two children in one such bungalow in Balmoral, a traditional Brisbane suburb, are among many encouraging the rebirth of these vernacular homes. “Original Queenslanders are becoming rarer,” says Paul Barratt, director of marketing at the Brisbane office of estate agency DTZ. “However, in suburbs such as East Brisbane and Paddington, they occasionally come up. Paddington, Newmarket and Rosalie have the best.”
Young professionals are also keen on Teneriffe, a suburb within a 2km radius of the city, where architects Fairweather Proberts have designed two schemes on the river: the Catalina complex of terraced houses and the Kingsholme Apartments. Partner Liam Proberts says he has “tracked a rise in value of Catalina from A$2m to A$4.5m over the life of the project”.
For couples with children it is the leafy suburbs up to 5km away from the city centre that are the key addresses. Paddington, Bardon, West End, Clayfield and up-and-coming Bulimba and Rosalie are picturesque districts with tree-lined hills, plenty of amenities and Queenslander houses and cottages. Also popular are Ascot and Hamilton, two desirable riverside suburbs with European-style plazas. Ascot’s median house price is A$1,275,000.
For almost 200 years the city’s river was ignored but Barratt says: “Over the past two decades Brisbane has started to celebrate it. Now there is a broad range of accommodation focusing on riverside benefits of amenity, views, ventilation and natural light.” Locals enjoy catching the CityCat boats running between the University of Queensland in the south-west and Apollo Road in the north-east.
South-east of the river lies the inner city suburb of Woolloongabba, home of “the Gabba”, Brisbane’s cricket ground. Proberts, who has designed new apartments there, likens the rejuvenation of this formerly industrial area to that of the Valley. “We think it will be a vibrant district with a great connection to the CBD [1km away],” he says. With commercial and retail buildings and restaurants, Woolloongabba has a diverse mix of dwellings including a good batch of heritage-protected Queenslanders, postwar workers’ cottages and low and high-rise units. It and its surrounding suburbs are well served with schools, by the South East Busway and by main roads such as the South East Freeway. This year’s median price for houses is A$645,000, for apartments A$435,000.
Barratt predicts a shift away from hotspot districts over the next five years, in favour of the development of the West End peninsula, west of Woolloongabba. Here, almost 70 hectares of light industrial property is set to become residential. Position Properties has apartments with three bedrooms, a study and two garages at Flow, a new luxury development on Duncan Street, designed by BVN, for A$1,295,000 each.
Proberts says that, as the economy changes, “spaces are being made smaller and more efficient to make them more affordable”, leading architects to explore “how we live [together] at higher densities. Brisbane has realised that you can live in a subtropical city and enjoy the social fabric”.
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Details
DTZ Brisbane, tel: +61 7 322 9999; www.dtz.com
Position Properties, tel: +61 7 3368 2300; www.positionproperty.com.au
