Brisbane, Perth and the Gold Coast: Australian property markets beyond Sydney and Melbourne

Talk about Australian property usually comes down to Sydney and Melbourne, and for good reason: that is where the people and the money are concentrated. But that is also exactly why those two cities have the highest prices and the lowest rental yields. The second-tier cities play by different rules.

Brisbane: Queensland's capital and the 2032 Olympics

Brisbane has been awarded the 2032 Summer Olympic Games, and an infrastructure programme is being rolled out around them: transport, sports venues, district renewal. At the same time Queensland has been steadily absorbing interstate migration from more expensive states.

• The upside — a clear long-term driver and a growing population.
• The downside — part of the Olympic premium is already in the price, and the event is still years away.
• Climate and lifestyle — a driver of interstate migration in their own right.

Perth: the resources cycle

Perth, on the west coast, lives off mining. That makes its market more cyclical than the others: when commodity prices are high, people move there for work, rents climb and home values rise; when the cycle turns, all of that reverses.

• The upside — historically a lower entry price and higher rental yields than on the east coast.
• The downside — dependence on a single sector, and therefore on global commodity prices.
• Distance — Perth is geographically isolated, and that affects everything, logistics and air links included.

The Gold Coast: resort living and the move to the coast

The Gold Coast, in Queensland, is a resort market with high-rises along the ocean, a steady flow of tourists and a constant stream of people relocating from the colder states.

• The upside — two sources of demand: tourism and migration.
• The downside — resort markets are more cyclical than city markets, and high-rise supply arrives in waves.
• Natural hazards — coastal storms and flooding feed into insurance, and that is a real line in the budget.

What a foreign buyer has to factor in everywhere

• The right to buy. A foreigner can buy a new home with approval from the relevant authority; a temporary ban on buying established homes is in force.
• State surcharges on stamp duty and land tax for foreign owners vary from state to state — and they are a significant part of the calculation.
• Insurance in flood- and storm-prone areas costs substantially more and is sometimes only available on limited terms.
• Currency: the Australian dollar has historically been volatile and tied to the commodity cycle.

Based on Australia's foreign investment framework, public data on interstate migration and reviews of regional housing markets.