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Robin McIlwain BA (Hons)
Principal
Belle Property Toowong
2/55 Sherwood Road
Toowong Qld 4066
Ph: 3210 2350
0411 530 870
belleproperty.comDear Chapel Hill resident,
The news is all good if you are a property owner in Chapel Hill. The research undertaken by
Ashton Rowe Pty Ltd on our behalf shows that there has been a 9.7% growth in the median price
in your suburb over the last 12 months. This growth is largely due to a scarcity of stock coming
into the market. The third quarter saw a further decline in properties for sale with just 32 home
sales as opposed to 45 sales in the corresponding period in 2014. This represents a 29% decrease
in sales volume over a 12 month period.
This changing market environment in Chapel Hill is due to a number of factors. Significantly,
Australian property owners are not selling properties as frequently as they used to. RP Data
recently reported that individual home ownership retention rates in Australia have risen by 36%
over the past decade. The average length of home ownership nationally was 6.8years in 2002. It
has now risen to just under 10years in 2015.
Chapel Hill typically reflects this pattern. Residents are realising the importance of location, and
when a family home no longer suits, it is often easier to modify the dwelling than it is to move.
This may also account for the increasing median prices of homes in the area, with larger 4 and 5
bedroom homes now dominating the suburbs sales statistics.
The rise in median selling price continues to be impacted on by the supply and demand cycle
in Chapel Hill. The current quarter is one of high activity for young families hoping to be settled
into a new property before the commencement of the 2016 school year and demand is high for
homes on flatter, child friendly parcels of land.
Rental prices have remained unchanged with the median price for 3 and 4 bedroom homes
the same for the last 9 months. The number of older 3 bedroom rental properties continues
to diminish as returns fall and investors place them on the market for sale. These homes are
attractive to first home buyers resulting in fewer affordable rental properties on the market as a
result.
On a final note, we need to look at the performance of the Brisbane property market in
perspective to other markets such as Sydney and Melbourne. Brisbane is still, to a large degree,
in catch up mode and is slowly gaining on pre-2008 prices. Putting everything in perspective,
the growth experienced in Chapel Hill, if averaged over a 10 year period, represents a very
conservative 4%.
Trends in southern states have had little flow-on to our market and the most significant event
to have impacted on prices in the suburb over the last 12 months has been the opening of the
Legacy Way.