Is $4m the new $1m?

Some jaw dropping data came out of Ray White’s economics team this week. Click through to our article to see why $4m is the new $1m and how local suburbs are placed on the national luxury market ranking.

Meanwhile, in personal news, I was hacked on instagram this month. My social media presence was hijacked and I was held ransom. It was actually pretty horrible and made our team feel powerless against this faceless criminal behaviour. Sadly, many agents in Brisbane have also suffered the same fate.

Social media is such a unique offering for our vendors and it’s something we’ve invested in heavily as it delivers great results. Because we have vast audiences, strong engagement and sophisticated technical acumen (well, our agency does anyway) we get solid and consistent enquiry through social channels for our sellers.

Fortunately, I have been able to continue marketing my listings via Facebook and the business Instagram, both of which have huge audiences and consistently generate buyer enquiry so no harm done on that front. In the meantime, we have called in the experts who are wrangling back my domain. It can’t happen quickly enough.

But I have to say that being hacked is a rotten feeling, one that many of you – statistically speaking – have likely experienced also. It’s more common than I thought. In 2021 86% of all organisations were successfully compromised by a cyberattack, and 5.5% more organisations experienced attacks this year than last year. And for the most part, it’s money they want. That’s what they wanted in my case.

On a better note, the other statistic that’s on the rise is the number of suburbs in the $4m club, numbering nearly 500 locations in Australia or five per cent of the market.

Some 465 suburbs or five per cent of the locations in Australia have a median price for a house of $4m. Good news for homeowners, hard news for aspiring local home buyers.

Our markets, by that measure, are still markedly more affordable. Houses across Brisbane, Teneriffe and New Farm have crossed the $2m median mark with Ascot and Hamilton likely to follow suit early next year. Since the start of the pandemic, Brisbane has seen the biggest jump in $10m-plus sales with twice as many taking place in the 18 months post-pandemic compared to the 18 months prior.

While a $2m median might sound daunting, Australian property appears to be a perpetually good investment. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, with our lifestyle, sunshine and community – Brisbane is always a bargain. And Australian property is just such a spectacular asset class. Of course I’m going to say that, but hear me out.

In the words of Ray White’s chief economist Nerida Conisbee, “Every decade, the most expensive suburbs of Australia go up around $1m. ” In 2001, $1m was the benchmark with 5 percent of suburbs priced over this median. Ten years later, it had increased to $2m. This year, it’s $4m.

Why? A mix of low interest rates, high savings (read: no travel) and strong performance in some parts of the economy are fuelling rapid growth in the upper end.

And we’re seeing evidence of that potent combination of factors locally too. This week, on Wednesday night, we took 42 properties to auction at our favourite venue, The Calile Hotel for our annual “Auction Under the Stars”. Of that 42, eight sold prior and 34 were offered to bidders; 80 percent of those sold on the night over the three hours. Buyers know what they want, and vendors have never had it so good.

If you’re wanting to take advantage of these market conditions, my phone is a better line of communication than my Instagram for now.

I hope you enjoy the read.

Matt Lancashire