Now is the time for upgraders to make their move in the southeast Queensland market.
The region presents good medium and long-term investment opportunities.
This is due to a number of factors including good internal migration to the region creating an increase in demand for houses.
What we are seeing is a market with good projections.
You won’t see a red-hot market with double digit growth, but you will see, overall, a balanced market between buyers and sellers with some small pockets leaning towards sellers in high-demand areas.
Usually, you won’t see people paying inflated prices.
With the Queensland Government taking significant steps to grow its economy, the local property market was likely to prosper and as a result, the state continued to attract a high number of interstate migrants in search of affordable housing and employment.
The $5.4 billion Cross River Rail and upgrades to the M1 are just two of the major infrastructure projects expected to have an impact on the economy.The Advance Queensland initiative is also designed to create knowledge-based jobs, drive productivity improvements and help position the state as an attractive investment destination with a strong innovation and entrepreneurial culture.
When we have significant slowdown and price reductions in Sydney and decelerated prices in Melbourne, as is the case now, this traditionally means southeast Queensland attracts more interstate investments.
We have good fundamentals right now.
Relatively good housing affordability, population growth and therefore demand for houses, improved jobs and economy, weakness in other markets, and modest capital growth so it’s not an out-of-control market.
The median price for houses in Greater Brisbane is $520,109 and for units $390,798.
This puts upgraders in a good position to achieve a bigger property or a better location for a relatively reasonable price.
There’s a good selection of suburbs in southeast Queensland that provides the desired quality and location without the million-dollar price tag, and with the second benefit that it is likely to enjoy long-term capital growth. 
There were two types of upgraders — those living in a house and moving to a bigger one or a better location, and those living in units looking to buy a house.
As many areas have a high supply of units these carry a higher level of risk and all the areas at the Statistical Area Level 4 (SA4) in Brisbane delivered negative capital growth in the past 12 months, meaning buyers should look to houses as safer investments.
To minimise the risks they should sell before they bought, particularly if they only owned a unit.
There were endless opportunities available in southeast Queensland from the Gold Coast to the Sunshine Coast, especially for houses.
See table below for the Top 10:
