Brisbane’s apartment pipeline is faltering just as buyer demand intensifies, creating one of the tightest inner‑city unit markets in more than a decade.
New research for the Property Council by Urbis shows it now costs about $1.7 million to deliver a new Brisbane apartment, with 35% of future projects at risk of not being completed. At the same time, Place Advisory data indicate inner Brisbane has only about a month of apartment stock available, with active listings almost halving over the past year and prices jumping 15%, The Courier Mail reported.
Property Council Queensland executive director Jess Caire (pictured left) said escalating construction costs, labour shortages, and slow approvals are undermining feasibility for mainstream projects.
“The average existing unit in Brisbane is now worth $831,000, meaning it is more expensive to build new supply than to purchase existing stock,” Caire said.
That equation is pushing developers towards luxury product and shrinking options for owner‑occupiers, downsizers, and first-home buyers.
Under the Shaping SEQ regional plan, Brisbane is supposed to add about 8,000 apartments a year to 2031. In reality, it has delivered less than half that number each year since 2019. Completions lifted to around 2,550 apartments in 2025 and are forecast to approach 3,000 in 2026, still leaving an annual shortfall of roughly 4,000 to 5,000 dwellings.
Brisbane City Council projects the city will need around 210,800 new homes by 2046 to support a larger and more diverse population, with more single‑person and smaller households, and an ageing population driving demand for one‑ and two‑bedroom apartments and downsizer‑friendly stock.
“Brisbane is not delivering enough apartments to meet demand, and the gap is not narrowing — it’s widening,” Caire told The Courier Mail.
As Brisbane heads towards the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, competition for labour and materials is also expected to intensify, adding further pressure to project costs and delivery timelines.
Urbis director Paul Riga (pictured right) warned that while launches and sales have improved, “this has not flowed through to construction at the scale required”, with a significant portion of supply beyond 2027 now considered at risk.
On the ground, Place Advisory and Projects director Syd Walker said, “With roughly one month of supply across inner Brisbane, the market is operating under genuine constraint,” as buyer enquiries surge and the number of buyers per listing doubles.
Much of the current demand is coming from first-home buyers and young families who are priced out of houses but still want proximity to the CBD.
“For many of them, apartments represent the most accessible entry point without compromising location,” Place New Farm agent Aaron Woolard said.
Woolard added that investors now account for around 50% of inner‑Brisbane apartment purchases, up from 45% a year ago.
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