Strong Growth Hidden in Brisbane’s Middle Ring: Everton Park Suburb Profile

Driven by a combination of land scarcity, population growth and a strong economic outlook, Brisbane’s housing market has shown no signs of slowing down – and it’s this positive outlook that is propelling investors and developers into Brisbane’s middle-ring.

As median house prices continue to soar upward of $600,000, both investors and developers alike are pursuing opportunities in Brisbane’s middle-ring suburbs in a move to deliver more affordable housing alternatives.

According to Paul Riga, Director at Urbis - whom has been actively tracking the performance of ‘blue chip’ suburbs particularly across the eastern seaboard - it appears some parallels can be drawn when comparing some of Sydney & Melbourne’s well known million dollar suburbs and a number of Brisbane’s quickly emerging middle-ring markets.

One particular suburb that closely compares to its Melbourne and Sydney counterparts is Everton Park, in Brisbane’s Northwest.

“Everton Park is characterised by a quickly developing local economy, increasing household incomes and disposable incomes, growth in property prices and relatively limited local retail and medical amenity,” Mr Riga said.

“If you look at Sydney and Melbourne suburbs located 8-9km from their respective CBD’s, a high proportion of these areas now have median house prices well in-excess of $1 Million. The drivers for these areas are the proximity to the CBD and connectivity to a wide range of amenity options – similar attributes to what Everton Park currently demonstrates”

“To those unacquainted with the area, Everton Park appears like many other suburbs across Brisbane however it is a rapidly growing and evolving locality, characterised by strong growth in new businesses, and a median house price that has grown by more than 20% over the past 5 years.”

A Quick Snapshot of Everton Park’s Market

Some key insights into Everton Park are highlighted below:

• Since 2013, the number of businesses in Everton Park has grown by approximately 8%

• Median value for house sales is March quarter 2017 is $580,000

• 5.7% average annual growth in median house sales (with land <1,000m2) – based on the period from March 2007 to March 2017.

• The current median vacant land price (<1,000m2) is $433,750 for the March quarter 2017.

• 7.5% average annual growth in median vacant land sales prices (<1,000m2) – based on the period from March 2007 to March 2017.

What This Means For Investors

Looking at Everton Park’s market metrics, it is clear that there is a trend toward growth as the market strengthens and cements its status as an aspirational and blue chip location.

Oliver Bagheri, Director at Rogerscorp, believes that while Everton Park presents as a great location, it is also imperative to identify the right project to invest in and develop – most importantly those that present an ability to be realised over the longer term in line with market forecasts.

“The best development opportunities in Everton Park will benefit from the capacity to deliver a range of end-uses which are likely to align with the expected growth in the area, which is something that developers and investors should bear in mind,” Mr Bagheri said.

“It is no secret the current market has its challenges, however taking a counter-cyclical perspective, Everton Park’s inevitable growth will play a big part in the successful development of opportunities that will be realised over the longer term.”

Opportunities In The Market

As Brisbane quickly matures as a city, it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate readily developable land which benefits from varied end-uses – let alone identifying land in emerging blue-chip locations.

One precinct that is perfectly positioned to benefit from the strengthening Everton Park market, is 768 Stafford Road –

MONARC – a 10,000 square metre proposed mixed-use precinct in the heart of the suburb.

MONARC has been conceptualised drawing upon the successes of other destination precincts such as Emporium, Coorparoo Square, South-City Square and Nundah Village – and will fill a localised gap in the market for a mix of modern residential and service based medical, retail and commercial end-uses.

Marketing agents of MONARC, Chris O’Driscoll, and Darren Collins of CBRE believe that “

MONARC represents Brisbane’s next destination precinct which at completion will represent a fully integrated hub of modern residential, retail, medical and commercial spaces poised to capture the longer term growth expected in Everton Park,” Mr O’Driscoll and Mr Collins said.

“The actual physical attributes of the precinct – its size, shape, servicing and accessibility – combine with its scale and varied uses to create immense strategic value if you also consider this alongside Everton Park’s attributes as well as the broader scarcity of these types of sites throughout Brisbane.”

“Since the precinct’s development timing isn’t to be fully realised in the current market, it doesn’t have to be developed immediately – meaning a longer term view can be taken of the site, allowing time to ensure the vision for the precinct can be properly realised over the long term”

Looking at the locational and market attributes of Everton Park, it is clear investors and developers should be turning toward this emerging suburb to secure long term mixed-use development opportunities.

“Rogerscorp is a privately owned & operated property development & advisory company which is currently developing in-excess of $150 million worth of residential, commercial & retail projects across South-East Queensland.”

The Urban Developer is proud to partner with Rogerscorp to deliver this article to you. In doing so, we can continue to publish our free daily news, information, insights and opinion to you, our valued readers.