Prestige boom in Brisbane: Why it continues to produce a parade of jaw-dropping trophy-home listings

Vendors in the prestige market are rarely the first to make a move in periods of uncertainty, but Brisbane is proving an exception.

As caution linked to global tensions and economic fragility weighs on other city markets, Brisbane continues to produce a parade of jaw-dropping trophy-home listings.

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Ray White Collective Luxury principal Matt Lancashire says this is no market test – vendors are acting with conviction.

One of them is publican James Power, who has listed his grand Spanish mission estate at 33 Markwell Street, Hamilton, through Lancashire. Overlooking the Brisbane River, it’s a showstopper, even by Hamilton’s elite standards.

The flush of high-end listings comes as Brisbane experiences a record volume of $5 million sales. Still, there’s not enough to go around, underpinned by a relentless population growth that is among the nation’s highest, and the 2032 Olympic Games infrastructure, which is transforming the city.

“When people feel that kind of underlying momentum, confidence follows,” Lancashire says. “Sydney and Melbourne have their own headwinds, whether that’s taxation, affordability ceilings, or sentiment. Brisbane doesn’t have those same anchors dragging on it.”

Lancashire says $5 million-plus stock is down by 40 per cent, but buyer enquiries are up by 60 per cent. “Supply at the top end has always been constrained because you simply can’t manufacture these properties,” he says. “The blocks, river views and heritage credentials don’t exist.”

One of Lancashire’s heritage listings is 49 Reading Street, Paddington, which has a guide of $12 million to $12.5 million following a contemporary update by Graya. The landmark 1860s manor now has a lift, gym, wine-tasting room, and emerald marble throughout.

Experts say the prestige real estate is concentrated in Hamilton, Ascot and New Farm, while Kangaroo Point, Hawthorn and Teneriffe are gaining traction. The best homes trade north of $10 million, up to the city record of $25 million, and although that is below the peaks of Melbourne and Sydney’s blue-ribbon suburbs, Brisbane’s long-term trajectory is stronger.

In 10 years, Brisbane’s luxury housing threshold – the entry point to the top five per cent of homes – has soared 133 per cent to $2.49 million, to be within $100,000 of Melbourne, according to Ray White’s latest Luxury Outlook report.

Across the broader luxury unit market, the benchmark has risen 87 per cent to $1.51 million. Knight Frank’s 2026 Wealth Report found the price ceiling for super-prime apartments surged from $9.2 million to $14 million in just 12 months and now exceeds $48,000 a square metre, helped by favourable planning rules.

Still, agent Alex Jordan from McGrath considers Brisbane undervalued. “There are areas where we’re seeing the prestige market pump like never before,” he says.

Transactions upwards of $30 million in regional lifestyle markets such as Noosa and Byron Bay suggest there is room to run. “If buyers are paying that more frequently than in Brisbane, then Brisbane has some catching up to do,” Jordan says.

The scale of listings like Jordan’s at 12 Aminga Street in Fig Tree Pocket underscores the optimism in the market. The seven-bedroom, Mediterranean-style home has 79 metres of riverfrontage, a pool house, a pontoon, a gym, tennis and petanque courts and a soccer field.

Wealth migration has permanently altered the market’s top tier.

“We’re seeing high-net-worth individuals relocating from interstate and internationally, drawn by lifestyle, liveability and, frankly, relative value compared to what they’re leaving behind,” Lancashire says.

“Buyers who might have been sitting in the $3 million to $4 million range 18 months ago are now ready and willing to push into the $5 million to $7 million bracket.”

Meanwhile, the Olympics is creating a deadline for buyers who want to get ahead of a potential boom, says buyers’ agent Wendy Russell.

“They are benchmarking the Olympics as a timeframe and saying, ‘We need to make the move now,’” she says.

Although some buyers are in a hurry, Russell says others are selective. “They are prepared to spend big money for a type of specific property,” she says. “All it takes is one of two competing offers, and we need to go all-in.”

As Brisbane’s luxury market comes of age, an influx of “young money” is resetting expectations.

“I’ve transacted five sales above $10 million in the last six months, all to buyers in their 30s,” Lancashire says. “That’s not a fluke, it’s a trend.”

Russell has also noticed the shift, saying, “Others are thinking, ‘We don’t pay that in Brisbane, but we do now to compete.’”

In May, the Reserve Bank again lifted the cash rate to 4.35 per cent, but stock market gains and equity are enabling prestige buyers to upsize regardless, Russell says.

Jordan also says his clientele is not sensitive to interest rates: “A lot of these buyers come in with very strong cash positions. Some don’t need to borrow, or only borrow because they’ve got other uses for their money.” 

Construction costs are instead a greater concern, driving more buyers towards finished architectural properties, Jordan says.

“At the moment, new builds or recent renovations are transacting below replacement cost, which is fascinating,” he says.