Is Brisbane still worth investing in? What the 2032 Olympics really means for prices

Ask around and you’ll hear the same hesitation about Brisbane. Hasn’t it already had its day in the sun?

Over the past five to six years, Brisbane has been one of the strongest performing capital city markets in the country, alongside Adelaide and Perth. Cotality’s home value index has the city up more than 19% over the year to March 2026 alone.

In a normal cycle, that kind of run is exactly when we’d start looking elsewhere. This time, our Head of Research, Dominic Cavagnino, says Brisbane is the exception, and the reasoning comes down to what happens between now and 2032.

“Of the markets that have had really strong performance over the last five or six years, but still have all the fundamentals to grow significantly in the coming years, I think Brisbane is the best of those.”

– Dominic Cavagnino, Head of Research, Binnari Property

Of the three standout markets from the last cycle, Dominic rates Brisbane as the one still carrying the strongest mix of fundamentals moving forward. Here’s the case, and the caveats that come with it.

An Olympic Games is a once-in-a-generation event

Brisbane will host the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and the infrastructure build-out is already well underway. Queensland and the Federal Government have committed a combined $7.1 billion to Olympic venues, split across 17 new and upgraded sites, and more than $12.4 billion to transport upgrades across the region.

Beyond the numbers, Brisbane itself has evolved. New hotels, a thriving restaurant scene and a more cosmopolitan atmosphere have significantly enhanced the city’s lifestyle appeal well before the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. While infrastructure investment often dominates the conversation, these lifestyle improvements are also helping to attract new residents, businesses and long-term investment. 

The venues bill: the centrepiece is a proposed $3.7 billion, 63,000-seat stadium at Victoria Park, with almost all of the 17 venues sitting within 5km of the CBD. That’s a deliberate choice. Brisbane is avoiding the sprawling, car-dependent Olympic precincts that left some past host cities with expensive white elephants after the closing ceremony.

The transport bill: Cross River Rail and the Brisbane Metro network are the two projects doing the heavy lifting, connecting Olympic venues directly to residential precincts rather than building transport that only makes sense for four weeks in 2032.

The precinct play: areas close to confirmed infrastructure, like Woolloongabba and Fortitude Valley, are already seeing renewed development interest well ahead of the Games. Commercial and residential investment activity has already increased around several key Olympic precincts, reflecting growing confidence in Brisbane’s long-term growth story.

A 2026 CBRE report comparing Brisbane against Olympic host cities since 1996 found the city is unlikely to suffer the post-Games downturn that hit some previous hosts, largely because the legacy infrastructure has genuine long-term utility for a growing city, not just a two-week event.

Sydney 2000 is the closest local comparison

History offers a useful guide. Following Sydney’s selection as host of the 2000 Olympic Games in September 1993, its housing market began outperforming the rest of the country. By the time the Games arrived, Sydney home prices had risen to around 29% above the national average, with that outperformance continuing for several years after the closing ceremony.

A similar pattern has been observed internationally. Olympic host cities such as Barcelona and London experienced sustained property price growth in the decade following their Games, particularly in suburbs benefiting from new infrastructure and urban renewal. While every market is different, these examples highlight how major, city-shaping investment can support long-term property demand.

As our Head of Research, Dominic, points out, Brisbane appears to be at the beginning of a similar journey, with many of the key infrastructure projects and urban transformation initiatives still to come.

Which suburbs are positioned to benefit most?

While many of Brisbane’s largest Olympic-related infrastructure projects are concentrated around inner-city precincts such as Woolloongabba, Herston, Spring Hill, Bowen Hills and Fortitude Valley, the investment impact of the Games is expected to extend well beyond the suburbs immediately surrounding the venues.

From a property investment perspective, the opportunity is not simply about being located close to an Olympic stadium. The more important story is the broader investment being made across Brisbane in transport, roads, public spaces, housing, employment precincts and supporting infrastructure.

Major projects concentrated in Brisbane’s inner suburbs will improve connectivity across the wider city, while the international exposure created by the Games is also expected to strengthen Brisbane’s profile as a place to live, work, invest and do business.

This means suburbs across Brisbane can benefit from improved accessibility, population growth, employment creation and continued investment well beyond 2032.

For investors, the focus should therefore remain on quality locations with strong underlying fundamentals – population growth, constrained housing supply, access to employment and improving infrastructure – rather than simply buying the suburb closest to an Olympic venue.

“The Olympics are not just a stadium story. They are accelerating investment across Brisbane, and the suburbs best positioned to benefit will ultimately be those with strong fundamentals that can take advantage of the city’s broader growth.”
– Dominic Cavagnino

What could slow the outlook?

No investment theme is without risk, and Brisbane is no exception.

While the city’s long-term fundamentals remain compelling, there are several factors that could influence the pace of growth.

Infrastructure projects of this scale are complex. Timelines can shift, budgets can change, and major transport projects occasionally face delays. Should this occur, some of the uplift expected around key precincts may simply take longer to materialise.

Affordability is another consideration. After several years of strong price growth, Brisbane is no longer the affordable alternative it once was. Higher interest rates and rising entry prices could moderate demand in the short term, even as population growth and housing supply continue to support the market over the longer term.

History also reminds us that not every Olympic host city has experienced the same outcomes. However, Brisbane’s approach differs from many past Games, with a strong focus on legacy infrastructure, existing venues and projects designed to meet the needs of a growing city long after 2032.

For long-term investors, these are considerations to monitor rather than reasons to dismiss the opportunity.

The labour squeeze is doing as much as the spending

This is the part of the Olympic story that gets less attention than the infrastructure headlines, but Dom thinks it may matter more for investors.

Queensland’s construction sector was already stretched before a single Olympic dollar was committed. As the state now needs that same labour force, and the same building materials, to deliver 17 venues and a transport overhaul on a tight deadline, less capacity is left over for new housing supply. That’s happening at precisely the moment Brisbane needs more homes built, not fewer.

It’s a supply story wrapped inside an infrastructure story. Fewer new dwellings, at a time of strong population growth, is a combination that tends to support rising prices rather than cap them.

What the vacancy data is telling us

SQM Research has Brisbane’s vacancy rate at 0.9% as at May 2026, essentially unchanged from a year earlier and, if anything, trending slightly lower than where it sat at the end of last year. A balanced rental market generally sits somewhere between 2.6% and 3%. Brisbane is running at roughly a third of that, and it has been for a while now.

●        Vacancy has held under 1% for close to three years running, according to SQM Research, against a longer-run average closer to 3% in the years before the current cycle began

●        Annual rent growth in Brisbane remains well ahead of the national average, even as the pace has eased from its 2024-25 peak

●        Net interstate migration into Queensland has cooled somewhat from its post-pandemic peak, but net overseas migration into Greater Brisbane remains among the highest of any capital behind Sydney and Melbourne, and continues to underpin demand

Higher interest rates and the flow-on effects of the May 2026 Federal Budget, particularly the changes to negative gearing eligibility for established properties, have taken some heat out of the pace of growth this year. A supply shortfall this structural doesn’t unwind because borrowing costs went up though. It shows up as rental pressure first, and continued, if more measured, price growth from there.

The Sydney gap hasn’t closed

Sydney’s median house price is sitting above $1.7 million. Brisbane’s is still closer to $1.2 million. That gap has narrowed from where it once was, but it remains wide enough to keep pulling aspirational Sydney buyers north.

These are people who want to own a home, can see the maths doesn’t work for them in Sydney, and can see that it does in Brisbane. That affordability arbitrage was one of the core engines behind Brisbane’s outperformance in the 2002 to 2011 cycle, when the city grew 143% against Sydney’s 27%. It’s a big part of why we don’t think the story is finished this time either.

Where this doesn’t apply

None of this is a blanket call to buy anywhere with a Brisbane postcode.

Location still matters. Outer-ring suburbs with abundant land supply and ongoing greenfield development typically don’t benefit from the same scarcity as established infill locations, where geography, planning constraints and limited developable land naturally restrict new supply.

Portfolio construction is equally important. For investors who already have significant exposure to Brisbane, diversifying into another market may offer a better balance of risk and opportunity than simply increasing their allocation to one city.

Entry price is another consideration. Buying into Brisbane’s more desirable suburbs today often requires a budget of $900,000 or more, placing those opportunities beyond the reach of some investors.

The bottom line

Binnari’s view is straightforward. If you’re an investor who already owns property in Brisbane, it may be worth looking elsewhere to diversify. But if you own nothing in the city, the growth of the last five to six years shouldn’t be a reason to rule it out now.

Brisbane has already delivered a lot of its growth for this cycle, and buyers coming in today are doing so later than they would have liked. But vacancy is still near record lows, migration is still flowing in, the affordability gap with Sydney is still wide, and the city is about to spend the best part of a decade building the infrastructure and labour bottlenecks that tend to precede, not follow, the next leg of a growth cycle.

For long-term investors focused on capital growth and a genuinely strong rental return, we don’t think Brisbane’s story is finished. It’s just entering a different chapter.

Looking to invest in Brisbane and want the experts on your team?

Our research team tracks vacancy rates, supply trends, infrastructure pipelines and migration data across every capital city in Australia, so you don’t have to guess where the next cycle is heading.

Chat to us today to find out whether Brisbane, or another market entirely, is the right fit for your investment strategy.