Victorian property investors are fleeing the state as Queensland activity picks up: ABS

Melbourne is on the cusp of losing its place as the second-biggest market for property investors with Brisbane hot on its heels.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data analysed by Money.com.au showed that Victoria made up about 23.3 per cent of all investor loans in the past year, with the Sunshine State accounting for 23 per cent in the same period. Money.com.au home loans expert Mansour Soltani said Queensland could dethrone Victoria as the nation’s second-biggest investor market behind Sydney, as many were leaving the state in favour of other parts of the nation with lower taxes.

“Queensland is emerging as the new promised land. It has everything property investors look for including a strong local economy, population growth, expanding regional markets, and ongoing infrastructure projects,” Mr Soltani said. The finance platform’s research and data expert Peter Drennan said Victoria could be overtaken as soon as this month or next, with Queensland’s annual growth rate of new investor lending at 21 per cent compared to Victorias sitting at just 4 per cent. It comes as new PropTrack research revealed Melbourne’s total number of rentals on realestate.com.au had increased by 17.3 per cent year-on-year in September, but remained historically low — with total available listings 18.5 per cent lower than the decade average to September 2022.

PropTrack economic research director Cameron Kusher said there was certainly stronger growth in investor lending in Queensland than in Victoria.

“People have realised that they can, they can invest where they like and people that would have invested in Victoria are investing elsewhere,” Mr Kusher said.

“We are still seeing a heightened level of investors selling in Victoria, whereas it’s easing off a little bit in some of those other states.” However from an affordability perspective, he highlighted that Melbourne was a lot more appealing to a prospective homebuyer, and as a renter. The city’s median rental price in September was $570 a week — compared to Brisbane at $620, Sydney at $730, and Adelaide at $580.

Removalist booking platform Muval chief executive James Morrell said Melbourne’s affordability was attracting movement from all over the nation, with the city reporting positive net migration for the first time since Covid.

Mr Morrell said the city had experienced the biggest swing in terms of moving from negative net migration in Covid back to positive net migration than all other capital cities.