Cush for Comment February 25th

Sometimes it’s hard to know which stories or data tells the accurate story. One week I read a story about the market going up, the next week it’s down, then the banks will say it’s falling, and all of this from “experts”. The irony of me writing this is not lost on … well, me. 

But, when watching data, sometimes you need to do a little digging to see what’s below the surface. Recently the property pages were full of stories that Melbourne’s population had passed Sydney’s for the first time in 100 years, but then we find out the boundaries were moved so they got the lead on a technicality. 

Similarly it was recently reported that Brisbane has passed Melbourne’s average median price. Brisbane reached $887,000 with Melbourne lagging behind at $880,000. I know the Melbourne market reasonably well and have a number of great friends who sell down there, so I thought I’d do some research to find the relevance of this data and similar to the population data, it doesn’t really give a clear picture. 

A search on realestate.com.au of the Brisbane greater region shows 276 houses for sale in the $850k-$900k price range, where the same search in Melbourne greater region shows 11. Fun fact, it only shows one in Sydney but I doubt it will sell below $1m. It’s the disparity between our capital cities that shows the value in Brisbane. If you really want to spend $880k on a house, Brisbane has options that no other city does.

Haesley Cush I This article is from the February 25th issue of The Courier Mail Digital Edition. To subscribe, visit https://www.couriermail.com.au/