HELP! Melbourne or Brisbane

Hi,
First time poster. Just wanted to say a quick thank you for all your insightful posts. This is such an awesome site!

I'm in a position to buy IP4 (currently own 3 IPs in Syd) and I'm torn between Melbourne and Brisbane. I have a budget of $400-450k and my preference is for a house/townhouse/villa within 10-15 km of the CBD. Given my criteria and current market conditions, which of the two cities would you say would give me more 'bang for buck'?

Thanks
S
 
Hi Shayla

Welcome to the forum!

No easy answer here - there are lots of little markets within Melbourne and Brisbane so your biggest bang for your buck will very much depend on the individual property you buy. Both cities just had a jump so you are coming in mid or even towards the end of our mini boom.

I only know Brisbane and I think for the medium to longterm the fundamentals are great but I'm sure the same is the case for Melbourne. Why do you want to buy outside Sydney? It shouldn't be too long now before your market's going to kick in again too.

To be honest I think in the end of the day it doesn't really matter if you think mid / long term and do your research in both / either of the cities.

Cheers

kaf
 
Shayla

I'm currently looking to buy in both Brisbane and Melbourne (similar budget and criteria to yours). I think that Melbourne is a bit further into the boom than Brisbane, just from my observations, though there's not a lot of difference between the two. As far as 'bang for your buck' goes, toss a coin (though I don't mean that literally! :) ) - both are growing strongly and have the potential for strong CG into the future.

As kaf says, do your research - and if you intend to hold for some years, it won't really matter. Good luck with your property hunting! :)

Cheers
LynnH
 
Forget research!
It's Melbourne Storm VS Brisbane Broncos
Melbourne Heads, Brisbane Tails
The little kid picked off the street tosses the coin.......It's high in the air....spinning sharply like Warnie's leg-break.....It's landed!!
AND HEADS IT IS!!

Melbourne wins!!

Invest in Melbourne!

If you need help with any other decision then let me know :D
 
Forget research!
It's Melbourne Storm VS Brisbane Broncos
Melbourne Heads, Brisbane Tails
The little kid picked off the street tosses the coin.......It's high in the air....spinning sharply like Warnie's leg-break.....It's landed!!
AND HEADS IT IS!!

Melbourne wins!!

Invest in Melbourne!

If you need help with any other decision then let me know :D

what a grample of a good idea :p
 
Thanks for the feedback.

Kaf, the main reasons why I'm looking at investing outside of Syd are to minimise my land tax bill, spread my market risks and I feel that both Mel and Bne offer better returns in the short-medium term.

As with Lynn, I also feel that Mel's further into the boom than Bris. I wish it were as easy as tossing a coin. All the research and due diligence are doing my head in. :) I'm seriously considering getting a buyers agent to help me. Ahmad, thanks for the offer. I'll keep it in mind.
 
Brisbane is the way to go!

The ultimate factor of demand is population growth. Brisbane has always had the highest population growth rate in the country and is projected to continue growing at that rate for the next 50 years by the ABS!
 
The ultimate factor of demand is population growth. Brisbane has always had the highest population growth rate in the country and is projected to continue growing at that rate for the next 50 years by the ABS!

I think that Melbourne is at the peak of the boom. However there are a lot of people still moving to Melbourne so the peak may last a little while longer. I've heard that the boom is starting to move from the inner to the outer suburbs, usually an indication that it is getting to the end of the boom.

Brisbane has not yet reached its peak so has further to go than Melbourne. As with Melbourne, there are a lot of people moving to Brisbane so this should sustain the boom.

If you are planning to buy and hold for the long term, it doesn't matter whether you buy in Melbourne or Brisbane. I saw some figures recently which showed that the 10 year return of both cities is about the same.
 
Hi,
First time poster. Just wanted to say a quick thank you for all your insightful posts. This is such an awesome site!

I'm in a position to buy IP4 (currently own 3 IPs in Syd) and I'm torn between Melbourne and Brisbane. I have a budget of $400-450k and my preference is for a house/townhouse/villa within 10-15 km of the CBD. Given my criteria and current market conditions, which of the two cities would you say would give me more 'bang for buck'?

Thanks
S

yeah buy in brissy, give the rest of us here a chance
 
Melbourne - unstable

Let me shed some wisdom to you folks here...

The major reason for recent rising population growth in Melbourne is due to high influx of overseas migrants, either working or studying (which then gives them chance to stay in Australia by applying PR through skills assessments). This had caused rising rent as many of them can't afford or not intended to buy houses which therefore, increase the demand of investment properties. This is the major reason for recent property boom in Melbourne.

Sadly, this boom is way unsustainable. One of the reasons is that recent strong Australian stock markets is causing the currency to rise rapidly especially in recent months. This has very much slowing the overseas migrants as they find it harder to send their children to Australia for education or higher risks for them who are looking for job in Australia but ended up unemployed and have to cope with higher living expenses due to inflation. For many, they will end up going back to their countries. This will cause population to stop growing or even negative growth! (as social trend by ABS shows that many Victorians are moving to Queensland due to more jobs availability and more affordable houses in terms of distance to the CBD where most people work!)

In addition, Universities in Melbourne have been showing under performance recently. Laziness, rapidly changing urban lifestyles (boozing and drugs), ignorance among the youngsters (basically university students) are some of the reasons behind it. University of Melbourne was once top 50 in the world, is now kicked back to 70's in the rank. While on the other hand, asian universities such as National University of Singapore, Beijing University and Tokyo University are performing way better (top 30). As current overseas students are mostly asians, will they think of sending their kids here again while they can have better education at their own home???

Sorry to go too further from the topic... Actually I can even write 10,000 more words to support my claim hehe... Cause I was once an overseas student too! and I understand the situation very well, especially my friends here are mostly renting overseas students and immigrants.

Come back to the main question, Brisbane is sure to fare better than Melbourne...

Cheers
 
Let me shed some wisdom to you folks here...

The major reason for recent rising population growth in Melbourne is due to high influx of overseas migrants, either working or studying (which then gives them chance to stay in Australia by applying PR through skills assessments). This had caused rising rent as many of them can't afford or not intended to buy houses which therefore, increase the demand of investment properties. This is the major reason for recent property boom in Melbourne.


Come back to the main question, Brisbane is sure to fare better than Melbourne...

I can see it taking part in the driving of prices, but i disagree that it is the MAJOR reason. There are many more influences such as interstate investors, migration of general demographic from interstate (such as Sydney), and continuation of standard property inflation we have seen the last 40 years.

I agree with your statement about Brisbane > Melbourne, but for different reasons. To even the scale Melbourne was very stale for many years, compared to other cities and this correction coupled with many people migrating could be a driving force in prices still for a fair amount of time. Although it is probable that it won't be at the extent we have seen in the last year.

I think your point of view is a very interesting insight as to a type of social trend developing, but would marry it with alot of other research when choosing the best location for your next iP :)
 
And in relation as to which area is good to buy in, I would be looking a little north of brissy from Chermside up to Caboolture, and in melbourne a townhouse in footscray / west footscray, yarraville, setton etc.
 
You will be surprised... =)

As I said, what drives demand for property investment is rising rental demand... and overseas students/migrants the main factor in rising rental demand... If you look at population growth of recent years in Australia, a little more than 50% are overseas migrants and Melbourne is taking up around 40% of those influx! Read through recent report on social trend... and you will be surprised too when you see how much overseas students had helped the Australian economy, around more than two billion dollars every year in Melbourne alone... (can easily be calculated, roughly 80,000 overseas students times roughly $25,000 (min $15,000/annum for school fees) spending per annum).

I am sure many local Australians had overlooked this factor in making investment decision =)

Anyway, yes I agree with you that places like Chermside way up to Caboolture is the place to invest at the moment. Suburbs like Chermside, Chermside West, Aspley, Geebung and Zillemere have lots of room for growth! Areas 1-3 kms away had experienced huge boom last year like Stafford, Kedron, Wavell Heights, Nundah, Northgate and Virginia. The difference in median prices between these suburbs is staggering 50-150 ks.

Have a look for yourself but don't wait till prices gone up the roof!

All the best!
 
Yes before you can get capital growth you need demand... and demand for rental will increase the demand for investing... this then leads to your growth... savvy? =)

Cheers
 
Yes before you can get capital growth you need demand... and demand for rental will increase the demand for investing... this then leads to your growth... savvy? =)

Cheers

Definitely savvy, but its demand for buying, not renting which really drives prices. Demand for rents just drives rents. In the country, rents are much higher in the city, but capital growth is generally much higher in the cities where people want to LIVE, not RENT.
 
Let me shed some wisdom to you folks here...

The major reason for recent rising population growth in Melbourne is due to high influx of overseas migrants, either working or studying (which then gives them chance to stay in Australia by applying PR through skills assessments). This had caused rising rent as many of them can't afford or not intended to buy houses which therefore, increase the demand of investment properties. This is the major reason for recent property boom in Melbourne.

Sadly, this boom is way unsustainable. One of the reasons is that recent strong Australian stock markets is causing the currency to rise rapidly especially in recent months. This has very much slowing the overseas migrants as they find it harder to send their children to Australia for education or higher risks for them who are looking for job in Australia but ended up unemployed and have to cope with higher living expenses due to inflation. For many, they will end up going back to their countries. This will cause population to stop growing or even negative growth! (as social trend by ABS shows that many Victorians are moving to Queensland due to more jobs availability and more affordable houses in terms of distance to the CBD where most people work!)

In addition, Universities in Melbourne have been showing under performance recently. Laziness, rapidly changing urban lifestyles (boozing and drugs), ignorance among the youngsters (basically university students) are some of the reasons behind it. University of Melbourne was once top 50 in the world, is now kicked back to 70's in the rank. While on the other hand, asian universities such as National University of Singapore, Beijing University and Tokyo University are performing way better (top 30). As current overseas students are mostly asians, will they think of sending their kids here again while they can have better education at their own home???

Sorry to go too further from the topic... Actually I can even write 10,000 more words to support my claim hehe... Cause I was once an overseas student too! and I understand the situation very well, especially my friends here are mostly renting overseas students and immigrants.

Come back to the main question, Brisbane is sure to fare better than Melbourne...

Cheers

Hi MTO:

Would you care to explain why Brisbane has a better potential in terms of capital growth than Melbourne? I don't anything about Brisbane and would love to gain more insight on this.
 
Hi Feihong,

South East Queensland (particularly Brisbane and Gold Coast) is currently experiencing the highest population growth in Australia... Brisbane fares better simply because they are not building enough houses there to support the population growth. This growth is mostly contributed by interstate migrants from Victoria and New South Wales due to more jobs vacancy and more affordable houses in South East Queensland. Also, economy in the area is doing well with less than 5% of unemployment rate.

tips: The government are encouraging higher density housing around Brisbane inner city. Bargain for properties nearest possible to the CBD with great land quantity. This gives you an opportunity to subdivide the land and sell for great profits later on especially when the land has a DA. However, not all areas would get DA easily. So be careful and do your due dilligence first for the area.

Good luck and all the best!
 
Also, with enough land you can apply to council for adding a self-contained/granny flat in your property. This provides you with a better rental income =)
 
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