The Brydon St gully was a controversial redevelopment a few years back and a lot of bushland was cleared at the time. It’d be interesting to hear how land adjoining that pocket’s been rejuvenated.

Visit your local councillor’s website for more info.

RP Data reports Brisbane’s dwelling prices dropped 1.3% in April. That meant a 0.6% drop for the quarter (after positive results previous months). They say our homes are now down 12% on the peak of the market we had in late 2010.

Matusik Insights say there’s good news for sellers with the number of properties on the market declining (South East Queensland down 10% compared to April 2011) and smaller discounts needed from asking price to get a final sale.

Confused yet?

RP Data is one of the nation’s largest property data and research outfits but their calculations ultimately need turnover of property to allow them to tell if it’s going up or down. But for resales of Brisbane residential property this is one of the quietest markets in more than a decade. Less sales means price change data is less reliable. Inner-Brisbane may be slightly insulated compared to the burbs and new apartment projects are being sold with strong investment-based campaigns.

On the ground we are getting stronger buyer enquiry than during 2011 and overall confidence seems better. But buyers are still cautious and price sensitive. Our own stats show our average time on market year to date are 41 days, compared with 67 same time last year. We’re just one inner-city agency but it’s at least some hard data about our sales for you.

The chatter from accountants is that last week’s budget, and its removal of some superannuation incentives, will attract investors back to residential property. Especially when they do their June 30^th taxes. Investors have been scouring the market for some time without making a move in any great number. And our new state government has confirmed July 1^st as the change to stamp duty – that is, many home buyers will be $7000 better off, or more, if they buy after July 1^st than today.

There’s a sense that July might be a telling month for selling and buyers, especially investors, could do well to beat the crowd.

Please tell us what you think. How do you see the market in Brisbane’s inner-city right now?

Allegro Apartments: 60-62 Cordelia St, South Brisbane

Do you live in the Allegro apartments? Tell us what you think – we’d love to hear your comments!

The main entry to Allegro

The 25m pool is well maintained

Allegro Apartments have a large gym, media room and recreation area

A typical Allegro kitchen

For more info or an estimate on the current market price of your Allegro apartment please call Josh on 0404 423 530.

But when you first arrive in town how do you know which suburb to choose?

There’s a lot of online info but it’s almost always written by some vested interest. A café that tells you Bulimba’s Oxford Street is Brisbane’s premium dining strip. A managed apartment building website that says Spring Hill is an easy walk to all the CBD has to offer. But what is it really like to live in Bulimba or Spring Hill? If you love Queenslander homes or a certain style of architecture where do you search? If you need a big yard where do you go? Even if you’ve decided you want an inner-city lifestyle within 5km of the CBD that still gives you 44 suburbs to choose from.

The Real Estate Institute of Queensland has some good suburb profiles on their website and Bees Nees own site might be a good place to start, where we’ve made some short notes of dwelling types etc. If you’re going to rent a home and want a feel for rents in each suburbs try www.WhatRentMyHome.com.au for a quick and easy search of each postcodes’ median rents. Using the dynamic mapping on realestate.com.au you can also choose a suburb (or Brisbane CBD if you need a starting point) and zoom out until you find a home that meets your budget criteria – for renting and buying.

Using a relocation agency can also be a good step. They’ll assess your lifestyle and housing needs and offer solutions to match – and yes Bees Nees has a sister company that specialises in executive relocation to Brisbane!

Are you a property snob and won’t live in certain areas?! Forget political correctness and tell us in the comments box below. We promise to publish all comments and you can remain anonymous! Tell us which Brisbane suburbs are your dream-home favourites and let loose on the places you won’t even drive through.

With no warning they’ve introduced changes to our capital gains tax rules and the 50% reduction in assessable gain will no longer apply to non-resident property owners. Importantly you can apply the discount based on the value as at May 8^th 2012, so please discuss this with your Australian accountant asap. It might be best to get a registered valuer out to your property now, and lock in your ‘protected’ gains.

And for all investors we think it’s worth a reminder that the depreciation allowances on your property can add up to a substantial tax deduction. So if you haven’t got a professionally prepared schedule you may be underclaiming – and apartment owners often forget that as a part-owner of all their common property such as lifts, pools, gyms etc etc, you are entitled to depreciate this in your claims. Annual deductions over $10,000 are common.

We understand there can be options to adjust previous years’ tax returns too, so the fee to have a depreciation schedule prepared might be a good investment.

And as always, please talk to your accountant for up to the minute advice.

The wider Brisbane market is still quiet compared to 2010 and Highgate Hill’s not immune. But it’s fair to say local buyer enquiry levels are strong and we’d argue there’s a relative shortage of properties available for sale. At time of writing there were just 24 Highgate Hill houses on the market in a suburb of around 1000 houses. Many local property owners are holding off from selling and may be a big part of the continued low sales volumes in this first quarter of 2012.

If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our sales team on 07 3214 6800

The wider Brisbane market is still quiet compared to 2010 and West End’s not immune. But it’s fair to say local buyer enquiry levels are strong and we’d argue there’s a relative shortage of properties available for sale. Many West End property owners are holding off from selling and may be a big part of the continued low sales volumes in this first quarter of 2012.

If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our sales team on 07 3214 6800

Prices are still down and the apartment graph below includes the release of new apartment buildings that, with their dearer prices, do skew the data. It remains a buyer’s market but overall Woolloongabba seems to be holding ground well and fairly priced properties are meeting good demand.

If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our sales team on  07 3214 6800

Sales volumes are well down on their peaks but 2011 ended as a stronger year than many expected and the start of 2012 has seen higher levels of buyer enquiry. This remains a buyer’s market, but one where properties are meeting ready demand when they’re fairly priced. There’s just a small handful of houses traded each year (in the Petrie Terrace precinct) so the median price data needs to be read with caution.

If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our sales team on 07 3214 6800

Prices are down on 2010. This is a buyer’s market and prices have dipped, but a general lack of property for sale has prevented big drops. Houses have not been offered to the market in any volume and with just 15 of them sold during 2011 the jump in median price is, unfortunately, not a true account of what’s happening.
If you’d like a sales market update for your property please call our Spring Hill specialist Rob Honeycombe on 0423 332022 or 07 3214 6800