Married couple Catherine Butt and Stephen Briggs have been happily living in a Brisbane apartment for two years – but recently decided to downsize and buy a house before they can’t afford it.
“Our payments are currently around $900 a week,” said Ms. Butt, “which is still manageable for us.
“The payments we’re looking at to buy a house are obviously going to be a lot higher, so things are going to be very difficult for us at that time … we thought, let’s get into the housing market now while we can, before we get priced out.”
Stephen Briggs and Catherine Butt decided that a tight budget had to be raised from house to house before it was priced out of the market. Photo: Richard Walker
Home seekers on the average Aussie income will no longer be able to afford Brisbane housing, according to new research.
Home comparison site Canstar found many Brisbane suburbs such as Rocklea require annual salaries of around $141,000 to buy a house there, with suburbs costing hundreds of thousands more.
Ms Butt and Mr Briggs bought their current Gordon Park unit in 2024 for $663,000. It was previously on sale for $465,000 in 2022, having jumped nearly $200,000 in less than two years.
“We thought it was crazy how much it had gone up,” Ms Butt said. “But we thought if that’s what it takes to get in, we’ll pay whatever we have to.”
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Research from Canstar has found that homeowners now need significantly more money than the average Aussie income to buy a home in Brisbane’s suburbs.
Several of the couple’s neighbors also decided to make the move, with a similar unit in the same neighborhood selling a few weeks ago for $910,000.
“That will get us the deposit we need to get a house,” Ms Butt said.
“For me, I’m a risk-averse person, and I’m a frugal person – so it’s quite scary, to be honest, when I think about what our payments are going to be and the fact that we’re going to have to keep up with them for the next 30 years.
Ms Butt said that talking to a financial advisor helped her understand the best way to save money to buy a house, which helped ease her fear of money. Photo: Richard Walker
Ms Butt said talking to a financial advisor and understanding how much money was being spent helped her to relax and gave her the confidence to make a decision.
“It might be necessary [move] outside a little,” he said.
Ms Butt said this could include cutting back on home improvement, late night sleep and some opportunities to travel: especially as she plans to work part-time before having a baby.
“I would really recommend knowing what your cash flow is, and making sure that whatever your payments are going to be possible – especially with a five per cent deposit scheme,” she said. “You have to make sure that your payments on that are actually happening, and that you can still get your life without being burdened by those payments.”
Ms Butt and Mr Briggs are selling Unit 2 at 39 Gordon St, Gordon Park, and Place New Farm.
“You should look for a house you like, not a place, because [the market’s] crazy in some places and not so much in others.”
The pair are now selling their unit at 2/39 Gordon St, Gordon Park, and Place New Farm.
Agent Nathan Briggs said he has found that buyers who want to upgrade have the best results when they move quickly, finding a new place quickly instead of being tied to one place.
“I was talking to a client of mine who recently sold a two-bedroom property in Windsor,” he said. “They were watching from the inside [the same area]and prices had just been released. So what they ended up doing, instead of continuing to miss out or buy over their budget, went out a bit to Clayfield and found something at a decent price, [just] in a different place.
“You have to look for a house you like and not a place, because it’s like crazy in some underground areas and not so much in others.”
