The major Australian city where you can still buy a home for under $250k

Home buyers on a budget can still snap up a property for under $250,000 in suburbs only a half-hour drive from Brisbane’s city centre.

The Queensland capital has been Australia’s best performing capital city real estate market during the pandemic with house values surging by 27.4 per cent in the year to June.

The median house price of $892,133 would be beyond the reach of an average income earner wanting to pay off a home without being in mortgage stress.

Apartments in Brisbane typically cost $501,074, buying something near the city.

But there are still pockets in Logan, a satellite city a half-hour drive south-west of Brisbane’s city centre, where the mid-point price of a unit is at half that level.

This means buyers on a budget, wanting to also be closer to the Gold Coast, would be less affected by surging interest rates with borrowers already suffering the biggest Reserve Bank increases since 1994.

At Woodridge, 23km south-west of central Brisbane, the middle price for an apartment is just $229,170, CoreLogic data showed.

 Real estate agent Selene Bruynzeels (pictured) there was an increase in interest from first-time buyers and investors in the suburbs of Waterford and Waterford West

Waterford West, 7km away from Woodridge, has a median apartment price of $249,863 while at Logan Central, it’s $233,144.

Logan real estate agent Selene Bruynzeels, from Ray White Beenleigh, said there had been increased interest from first-time buyers and investors in suburbs like Waterford and neighbouring Waterford West. 

Couples and families liked the proximity to a Bunnings hardware and a local private school. 

Ms Bruynzeels said the ‘awesome community’ offered first-time buyers a ‘great foot on the property ladder’.

A lower entry price meant a home could be rented out so the buyer could get a mortgage on a second property. 

Ms Bruynzeels estimated properties in Waterford that cost $250,000 a year ago could now be sold for up to $350,000.  

‘I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t increase significantly,’ she said.

In Ipswich, a little further south-west, the suburb of Goodna has a median unit price of $250,006.

Those wanting an even cheaper unit can head to Kooralbyn, an inland town in the Scenic Rim 100km south-west of Brisbane, where $201,400 is the mid-point price for an apartment.

 Waterford West (pictured is a home on the market for $239,000) has a median apartment price of $249,863 while at Logan Central, it’s $233,144

The town’s median house price of $619,151 is also affordable for an average, full-time worker on a $90,917 salary.

With a 20 per cent deposit, they would avoid being in mortgage stress, where they owe the bank six times or more of what they earn.

Real estate agent Mel Weir, from Right Fit Properties, has lived in Kooralbyn for nearly a decade and noted her town was ‘finally being seen for what it is’ – a picturesque town nestled in the valley away from the bustle of city life.

Ms Weir estimated prices for homes had more than doubled in the last 12 months, and said there weren’t enough properties to meet the demand.

She said city workers were happy to drive up the Mount Lindesay Highway to the city and return to the peace and quiet of Kooralbyn.

CoreLogic noted that south-east Queensland’s Logan-Beaudesert region had Australia’s most affordable apartments, with median values under $250,000.

It’s a similar story in Adelaide where the median unit price at Salisbury, 25km north of the city, is just $263,951.

That is much cheaper than greater Adelaide’s median unit price of $423,708 and the city’s median house price of $699,251, following a 27.4 per cent annual increase.

 Real estate agent Mel Weir, from Right Fit Properties, has lived in Kooralbyn for nearly a decade and noted her town was ‘finally being seen for what it is’ – a picturesque town nestled in the valley away from the bustle of city life

Those wanting an even cheaper unit can head to Kooralbyn, an inland town in the Scenic Rim 100km south of Brisbane, where $201,400 is the mid-point price for an apartment (pictured is a unit with an asking price of $249,000)

Adelaide and Brisbane are Australia’s strongest property markets.

But values are falling in Australia’s bigger capital cities, following 1.25 percentage points of Reserve Bank rate rises in May, June and July that have taken the cash rate to a three-year high of 1.35 per cent.

This has also seen borrowers suffer the steepest rate rises since 1994.

Sydney has so far been the worst affected big city with the median house price in the June quarter plunging by three per cent to $1,382,631, with values last month alone dropping by 1.8 per cent, CoreLogic data showed.

Melbourne’s mid-point house price fell by 2.4 per cent over three months to $975,850, losing 1.3 per cent in June.

Brisbane house prices were flat last month.

But separate data from PropTrack, the data company connected to realestate.com.au showed Brisbane house and unit prices slip by 0.09 per cent in June, marking the first monthly decline since April 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

The big four banks are expecting the Reserve Bank of Australia to raise interest rates by 0.5 percentage points in both August and September.

CoreLogic noted that south-east Queensland’s Logan-Beaudesert region had Australia’s most affordable apartments, with median values under $250,000 (pictured is a Woodridge home)

But ANZ is expecting the RBA cash rate to hit a 10-year high of 3.35 per cent by November, with half a percentage point rate rises in August, September, October and on Melbourne Cup Day. 

The Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s biggest home lender, is expecting Sydney and Melbourne house prices to fall by 18 per cent by 2023.

Brisbane prices were tipped to rise by six per cent in 2022 but fall by 10 per cent in 2023 for a smaller net loss of four per cent. 

Similarly, Adelaide was tipped to see a six per cent rise this year followed by an 11 per cent decline next year for a net loss of five per cent.