Experts believe that the Brisbane housing values may not decline significantly in 2020, although figures show buying and selling activity in the market has fallen sharply. When it comes to population growth and Queensland’s property market, the state has been leading the nation for net interstate migration, with a strong upward trajectory.

Speaking on the Covid-19 impact on the housing market at The Urban Developer’s virtual residential summit, Corelogic’s Tim Lawless said, Queensland has overtaken Victoria, which had previously held the mantle for the number of net interstate arrivals. “Of course Queensland has some exposure to overseas migration, but nowhere near as much as say New South Wales or Victoria,”.

He further said, “I think Queensland is in a very good position in that it won’t be as impacted by a downturn in overseas migration numbers, which in turn of course probably won’t impact the rental markets quite as severely as Sydney or Melbourne.” “New housing supply under construction has fallen with pending detached supply back around the decade average and unit supply dropping below the decade average,” Lawless said.

Brisbane unit values are 11.1 per cent below the peak of 2010, and Brisbane house values to date continue to track solidly.

• DWhile the next few months present an unprecedented shock to the economy, Lawless said it otherwise has strong fundamentals. “The institutional response is about ‘building a bridge’ to the recovery phase, with stimulus totalling about 16.5 per cent of GDP.
• “Previous economic shocks have seen housing values relatively insulated, while volumes are more susceptible to volatility.”
• Reduction in supply levels should help protect housing values New listing numbers, based on agent activity, is likely to settle around half of what it normally would be for this time of year, with new listings expected to further fall substantially.
• “In some ways that’s a positive,” Lawless said.