Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane are the property hotspots of 2019, says expert

While Adelaide offers affordable properties near the city centre, Canberra currently enjoys great demand across its rental market.

“They are at the right stage of the cycle. They will continue to grow because there’s strength there,” Ms Porter highlighted.

On the other hand, while Brisbane’s growth is expected to be slower, a large amount of new infrastructure to be built across the capital city is ultimately expected to improve the property market.

Adelaide

One of Adelaide’s advantage over other capital cities this year is being on the right stage of the market cycle.

According to Ms Porter: “The first thing we always want to make sure is: Is this right timing in the cycle? That’s going to overarch everything.”

“I don’t care if you put the biggest project in the area or if the market’s declining and it’s unaffordable. It won’t work until it goes through that pain—that’s what’s happening Sydney.”

This advantage is further fueled by several infrastructure projects which are expected to spur population and jobs growth across the city and the state and ultimately deliver a positive impact on the property market.

“Adelaide has the hospital project just completed at $2.4 billion. That puts it as the seventh most expensive building in the world and the most expensive building in Australia. That’s on the world stage, and there’s going to be a huge amount of job creation in the hospital and the supply chain to the hospital, like cafés and cleaning companies and all that sort of stuff.”

Other major projects include a $39 billion ship build, the Lionsgate Business Park that is expected to create 1,200 jobs and various upgrades to the casino, the airport and other facilities.

“There’s massive job creation coming off the back of a market that is affordable—it’s in the top three most affordable markets in the country. These things are really strong fundamentals,” Ms Porter said.

Canberra

Like Adelaide, Canberra also benefits from being in the growth stage of its market cycle—as in, there exist great demand and limited supply.

The diverse employment market in the ACT capital also proves to be a major growth driver for the property market.

“A lot of people think that if you work in Parliament, that’s it. No, because there are IT companies that have a contract with the government for four years and there are accounting firms that have a contract with the IT company for four years while they’re doing that project,” according to Ms Porter.

Furthermore, the education sector is also expected to spur growth for the Australian Capital Territory this 2019.

“They’ve got a couple of big projects coming out around the university and around the academy, so there’s a big student influx expected there, as well as teachers and other diverse jobs.”

Brisbane

Brisbane, unlike Canberra and Adelaide, will experience a bit of a slower burn this year, Ms Porter said.

The major projects set to be laid out in the next few years are expected to allow the capital city’s property market to grow moving forward.

“We’re talking Brisbane metro, within 25 minutes of the CBD. There’s projects coming, such as the Herston Quarter and the Queen’s Wharf. Most of these are three- to five-year plans so it’s going to be a slower burn.”

However slow the growth will be, the property expert won’t discourage investors to get into the Brisbane market as early as now, particularly in areas far from the flood zone that are around 25 minutes from the central business district.

Free-standing houses are also deemed as the ‘recipe’ to success, according to her, as the unit market is currently oversupplied.

“It's almost as simple as baking a cake, that one, but you’ve got to be able to understand how to look for the properties that are outside of flood zones because flood-prone areas can give you lending issues and insurance issues.”

Tune in to Anna Porter’s episode on The Smart Property Investment to know more about the great opportunities in the property market this 2019.

Get the latest updates on major capital cities in Smart Property Investment's Property Market Updates.