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If you live at Sandgate, Hemmant, Kenmore or Paddington, you can breathe easy with all this talk about a flat property market, because house prices in your suburb are some of the best performings in the city.

While Brisbane’s overall house price growth was minimal in 2018, new data from the Domain House Price Report has revealed there were suburbs that bucked the trend, showing strong growth and skyrocketing in value.

The No.1 suburb was Sandgate, the coastal village in Moreton Bay north of Brisbane’s CBD, where house prices grew by a whopping 18.8 per cent.

It was followed by North Ipswich, which rose by 17.3 per cent, then Hemmant, in Brisbane’s eastern suburbs, which grew by 12.5 per cent.

Kenmore and Graceville rounded out the top five, both up by 11.8 per cent, but other suburbs like Paddington, Bardon, Burpengary East, Carseldine and Brookfield also made the top 10.

Top 10 suburbs for houses in 2018

Source: Domain House Price Report, Dec quarter, 2018.

Kristy Kelly of local Sandgate real estate agency Kindred said the secret was well and truly out when it came to Sandgate.

“As the years go by, Sandgate just keeps getting better and better and it’s where everyone aims to be up here. There are some really good prices coming out that don’t just house with water views,” she said.

“We’re seeing houses sell for $1.1 million away from the water. They will have city or mountain views but it used to be that anything with that pricetag had to have a water view … not any more.”

Inner-city favourite Paddington continued its run of success in recent years, showing strong growth as the momentum of its evolving landscape held strong.

Builder Rob Gray, who runs Graya Constructions together with his brother Andrew, has six high-end building projects on the go at Paddington and said it was his favourite suburb because it “ticks all the boxes”.

“Geographically to me it makes sense but the biggest standout to me is that there’s so much building going on — every second street there’s a build happening, and they’re not small builds.

“I saw it happen at New Farm and Teneriffe and I saw it happen at Camp Hill a couple of years ago. There’s this real air of confidence in the suburb,” he said.

In Brisbane’s sought-after western suburbs, Kenmore, Graceville and Brookfield recorded excellent growth, soaring by nearly 12 per cent and 9 per cent respectively.

It came as no surprise to Jason Adcock of Adcock Prestige, who sold a $1.8 million acreage property at Brookfield under the hammer — two days before Christmas.

“I thought no one would be there, it being the 23rd of December and basically Christmas. It’s the latest auction I’ve ever done in 25 years of real estate,” he said.

“But I couldn’t believe it, we had 50 people there on the day and a neighbour bought it under the hammer.

“There’s certainly something going on in Brookfield.”

Edging closer to the million-dollar suburb club with a median of $952,000, Graceville has always been in high demand with families, beloved for its wide, tree-lined streets with large block sizes and Queenslander houses.

But Mr Adcock said the recent proliferation of new cafes, restaurants and shops had elevated its desirability to a whole new level.

“It offers an incredible amount of facilities and it’s now got that amazing village vibe about it,” he said.

“People walk out their front door to go out for the night or weekend. You should see it on a Friday night on Honour Avenue or down on Oxley Road, it’s just fantastic.”

If you’ve never heard of Hemmant, which recorded the third-highest rate of house price growth in 2018 at a huge 12.5 per cent, you’re not alone. East along the Brisbane River from Murrarie and 10 minutes from Bulimba, it’s been largely industrial — but that’s rapidly changing.

The land is now being converted to residential lots and brand new houses are being built at a cracking pace. The median house price is now $540,000.

Serena Carter of Ray White Tingalpa said in the next 18 months to two years there would be 1800 new homes built at Hemmant.

“A  lot of people still have that stigma and say ‘I wouldn’t live there but it’s only 10 kilometres from the CBD, there’s a train line and it has excellent access to the city,” she said.

“In fact, I’ve got a lot of buyers coming here from Bulimba and Morningside and buying because they can’t believe the value. They come here and see they can save themselves $400,000 to $500,000 and they’re so happy.”

She said the suburb’s value would continue to grow this year as more new housing was built.

“The people who bought land here in stage one have already seen massive growth on their property values,” she said.

“The people who got the bigger lots are sitting on a goldmine. This suburb is really moving.”

This article was first published in www.domain.com.au. Here’s the link to the original article: https://www.domain.com.au/news/brisbanes-best-performing-suburbs-in-2018/