Sydney and Melbourne property investors are increasingly heading north to buy new apartments off the plan in Queensland in response to better affordability, innovative design and, often, appreciably higher-quality builds.

“People are now doing a lot more due diligence with developments, and they’re liking what they’re finding in both Brisbane and the Gold Coast,” says Queensland CBRE director Nick Clydesdale. “There’s some good quality product here in prime locations, and it compares very well to what buyers are seeing in their home cities, and for substantially lower prices.”

It’s often a little different from the norm; quirkier, more ambitious, sometimes pretty aspirational and regularly incorporating the best of what developers have seen, or tried themselves, in the bigger cities.

Project marketers CBRE also have several new developments around Brisbane and all along the Gold Coast which are receiving a large percentage of buyers from outside Queensland, mostly Sydney and Melbourne.

“There have been a lot of buyers from interstate and offshore as well as locally,” says Nick Clydesdale. “People are now really interested in good real estate in prime locations and are often coming into the market for the first time as they’re so impressed by what’s being offered.”

The boom is spreading upwards from the Gold Coast too, with the massive investment in infrastructure there, including the light rail, extension to the heavy rail linking it with Brisbane and the upcoming 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Source: Domain