A recent survey conducted by Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) has confirmed Brisbane as the preferred city for property investors.

According to the 2016 national survey conducted by the Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA), which represents some of the country’s leading professional investors, 50% of the more than 1000 respondents believe Brisbane offers the best property investment prospects.

The river city polled far ahead of any other capital city in the survey, with Melbourne coming in second at 20%, Sydney at 11%, Adelaide at 9% and Perth at 6%.

PIPA chair Ben Kingsley said property investors are beginning to look outside their local areas for better returns. “Property investors are becoming more savvy. Many of them continue to look outside of our biggest property markets – Sydney and Melbourne – which are coming close to the peak of their cycles,”.

Despite fears of oversupply in the Brisbane metropolitan areas, investors are continuing to cast their gaze north of the border for two key reasons – affordability and the potential for attractive yields. 

As an example, the current median house price in Sydney are sitting at just over $1.02million, according to Domain Group data. Compare that to Brisbane’s much lower median of around $750k and the investment proposition becomes clearer.

Other Findings

The survey also found that 72% of respondents were not concerned about potential changes to negative gearing, and only 13% saw the record low interest rates as the “key reason” to buy property right now.

When it came to refinancing habits among investors, the survey found 80% would switch lenders if they were offered an interest-only repayment period.

You can view the full 2016 National Survey here on the PIPA website.