Brighter Buying

Dramatic COVID capital city reshuffle ranks Brissie #2

by Kate Watt, Marketing Manager 4 June 2020

No one really knows exactly what property prices will do thanks to COVID but that hasn’t stopped commentators having a good crack at guessing.

One forecast which caught our eye this past week rated Brisbane a healthy second place in a 12-month outlook of capital city markets.
Affordability, a strong rental market (outside the CBD) and a balanced supply of housing were noted as our key strengths in new research from Propertyology, reported Savings.com.au.
In an unthinkable result pre-COVID, Canberra took out the top spot in the rankings. The main reason for this was the lower economic impact from COVID-19, said Propertyology head of research Simon Pressley. “Canberra’s economy was already strong before the germ arrived. And with approximately 100,000 of its 213,000 workforce in the public sector, it will be significantly shielded through the COVID job lock-down period,” he said.
“Logic would also suggest an expansion of Canberra’s public sector workforce will be needed to help administer the federal government’s record $320 billion COVID-19 support packages.”
The rest of the rankings look quite different to what we’ve seen in recent years which have been dominated by Sydney and Melbourne, even as they’ve cooled off historic highs.

Check out the new order:

  1. Canberra – buoyed by its public sector workforce.
  2. Brisbane – solid fundamentals, and needing private sector jobs growth to really skyrocket.
  3. Adelaide and Hobart – a shared third spot but “daylight separates” them from Brisbane.
  4. Perth – a risky option which may see growth but is over reliant on mining.
  5. Sydney and Melbourne – take the wooden spoon due to exposure to international markets: students, tourism and migration.

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