Inside Brisbane’s growing demand for inner-city apartments

Engaged couple Sam Watts and Zac Nicholas bought a unit in Newstead at the start of 2024, and fell in love with a suburb set to explode with popularity in the coming years.

“It was very much a diamond in the rough, looking every weekend for four or five months, and just finding nothing until this one,” Mr Nicholas said. “[Now,] it’s a 5 minute walk to just about anything.”

New data from analytics firm Informed Decisions has found suburbs such as Newstead are set to see a large increase in urban density, with South-East Queensland needing to fit more people in fewer spaces.

Zac Nicholas and Sam Watts with their dog Walter, making their way through Newstead – a dense suburb set to grow even denser in the coming years. Picture: Liam Kidston

With less greenfield development available for purchase in areas near the city, attention is shifting to building larger apartment complexes over houses and smaller buildings, allowing more people to take advantage of inner-city living.

Ms Watts and Mr Nicholas took advantage of this at the start of 2024, purchasing their two-bedroom unit for around $530,000.

“At the time we thought it was at the top end of what we wanted to go, but now in hindsight it was perfect,” Ms Watts said. “I think we were estimated to borrow 75k more than what we bought for.”

“We feel like we were really lucky with the time we bought, because after that it’s really hard to get into the market now.”

Less available land space in this hotspot near the city has meant developers are focusing more on high-rise projects, able to fit more residents in the same space.

Since moving in, the couple had seen construction on more high-rise developments being made nearby – potentially at the cost of some of the area’s greenery.

“We’ve got a few buildings going up around, and they’re huge buildings too – like, 20 stories plus,” Ms Watts said. “There are some apartments that incorporate a lot of greenery, but a lot don’t. And we’re always happier when seeing those green spaces.”

Rissman Property Newstead lead agent Scarlett Leung said while single-couple homeowners were still dominating the spaces where she worked, she was happy to see her neighbourhood was seeing a wider demographic of buyers moving in.

“I really welcome the transformation,” she said. “I grew up in Hong Kong, which is a very big city, and people can live in a small place with a productive and effective work-life balance.”

While the engaged couple appreciated seeing greenery in their neighbourhood, they said they were happy to take the trade for the suburb’s convenience. Picture: Liam Kidston

More areas across Brisbane will likely be growing upwards instead of outwards, with a rising population and a tightly-held housing market.

“I understand some might not like that hustle and bustle, but it’ll also draw more business in … it means more people can walk around and greet people, and bring in a sense of community.”

While the couple plan on upgrading within the next five years once they start a family, they don’t plan to go far from the area despite its growing density.

“The location itself is perfect for us,” Mr Nicholas said. “Even talking about moving, I still think we’d be in the Newstead-Teneriffe area, just because of the proximity to all the essentials.”

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