SEQ ‘Will Flourish’ in Decade of Transport Investment

Strong trade winds are blowing back to Brisbane, providing favourable conditions for the industrial sector driven by the inland rail megaproject and the “most efficient” port in Australia. The 1600km freight rail line is being built in 12 sections—so far about 280km has been completed and the line to Parkes in the NSW Central West is due to be finished by 2027. The inland rail, shipping and the potential for Brisbane’s industrial future was one of the surprising key trends discussed at The Urban Developer’s Future2034 series’ first stop in the River City on September 4. Ethos Urban economics group director Sean Stephens said there was opportunity for urban growth near the port. “I sincerely believe the inland rail will have a significant effect on the industrial sector in Brisbane,” Stephens told the breakfast event. “It will have some pretty profound influences on the industrial sector here and will create significant business opportunities ... many of which aren’t even realised at the moment. “Getting products from Australia’s largest container terminal [in Melbourne] to Brisbane, which is the closest container terminal to our Asian trading partners, in under 24 hours is a game changer. “In 20 to 30 years Brisbane will be more connected to Melbourne than Sydney.” ▲ Ethos Urban’s Sean Stephens with The Urban Developer ’s Adam Di Marco at the Future2034: Exploring the Next Decade in Development event. Brisbane Economic Development chief executive Anthony Ryan said major connections would drive investment and that agreements were already in place. “We are the closest capital city to our major trading partners,” Ryan told the Brisbane Future2034 event. “Asia-Pacific is a $90-trillion economy and we have the most efficient port in Australia. “Singapore Airlines, who we were with last night, talked about two years ago when they were going from seven flights a week to 21. “They said when Queen ’ s Wharf opened, we agreed verbally, they will go to 25 flights a week—that starts in October. “There is a direct proportional relationship between flights coming into your city, investment, and focus and brand.” Although the sector in the city took a hit in mid-2022, prime yields for industrial are stabilising. Brisbane firmed by 5 basis points to 6.20 per cent, according to Knight Frank Research, well above Sydney and Melbourne around the 5.5 per cent mark in the second quarter results. ▲ Discussing Brisbane's future are ARIA's Michael Hurley, EDQ's Debbie McNamara, BEDA's Anthony Ryan and Lendlease's Justin Davies. The top transactions in the past quarter were by Charter Hall divesting three properties, while Centennial and MaxCap Group completed their $100-million speculative build —and have another on the way. Investment, employment and connectivity are all expected to drive development in other sectors too, including residential and tourism. Ryan said the city also had the number one hotel and restaurant, and the best university in the country. “It’s not about the Olympics, the work we have to do [is] to start saying we’re shit-hot, we’re global and we have arrived,” Ryan said. “We just need to keep telling people about this and all need to be the footsoldiers for this to create this sense of optimism.”

SEQ ‘Will Flourish’ in Decade of Transport Investment

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