2022 in review: Brisbane

April brought with it the first Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cash rate increase of the year as inflation hit 5.1 per cent, lifting it from the record low of 0.1 to 0.35 per cent. One month later, the pace of Brisbane’s dwelling value increases would slow to 0.8 per cent — though this was still the quick largest increase for the month — as part of what PropTrack described as the swiftest rate of decline in 33 years. 

The new financial year brought comparisons between Australia’s market downturn and 2008’s global financial crisis, and for Brisbane, marked the first month its resilience was breached as values across the Queensland capital decreased 0.8 per cent to $781,850. 

At the time, CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless explained that “the rate of growth in housing values was slowing well before interest rates started to rise; however, it’s abundantly clear markets have weakened quite sharply since the first rate rise on May 5”.

Median unit values in Brisbane, which were $487,967 in April, having grown 1.4 per cent the previous month, ended November at $492,481, having declined 1.5 per cent across the preceding quarter.

On the rental front, Brisbane, much like the rest of the nation, spent much of the year in the grips of a crisis. CoreLogic’s Quarterly Rental Review for the third quarter of the year revealed nationwide vacancy rates hit record lows during the three months to September, resulting in a vacancy rate of 0.9 per cent in the Sunshine State capital, although this figure is as low as 0.2 per cent in other parts of the state.

CoreLogic reported that the city led the nation regarding yearly rental growth — up 13.5 per cent — culminating in tenants paying, on average, $573 per week for a Brisbane rental property.