The year is 2015. A loaf of bread costs about $3, a large takeaway coffee is almost $4, and it costs around $73 to fill a car with petrol.
Ten years later, the cost of living has clearly risen, but new figures show home prices in 16 Queensland suburbs are now actually cheaper and there are 125 suburbs where prices have only increased by $150,000 or less.
In Greater Brisbane, the only suburb where home prices are more affordable than they were a decade ago is Brassall in Ipswich, with a $160,654 median unit price, according to the latest PropTrack data.
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This two-bedroom unit at 5/15 Workshops St, Brassall, is on the market for offers over $465,000.
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But units are still very affordable compared to 2015 in Bowen Hills ($525,000), Milton ($572,500) and Fortitude Valley ($516,000) — all experiencing price rises of less than $50,000 in a decade.
Brisbane houses are significantly more expensive than they were a decade ago, with Park Ridge in Logan one of the only suburbs where prices have hardly grown.
The median house price in Park Ridge is $753,500 — only $133,500 more expensive than it was 10 years ago.
This four-bedroom house at 28 Merino St, Park Ridge, is for sale for offers over $729,000.
Ray White Marsden agent Ryan Trama, whose sales area includes Park Ridge, said the type of housing had changed from acreage to smaller lots and housing estates over the past decade, allowing prices to remain fairly stable.
“When we’re looking at data from 10 years ago, Park Ridge was an acreage community,” he said. “[Now], there is a diversity of property types.”
Mr Trama said Park Ridge’s relative affordability had allowed more people from a diverse range of backgrounds to migrate to the suburb at a more accessible price.
This two-bedroom unit at 431/38 Warner St, Fortitude Valley, is on the market for $600,000 to $650,000.
“The entry point’s a lot cheaper, it’s certainly more affordable,” Mr Trama said. “Housing affordability is becoming a struggle closer to the city, for entry-level [buyers].
“We definitely need to see an increased supply of (housing) developments coming to market, to meet the demand of buyers.”
Across the rest of the state, unit prices have actually fallen in East Mackay (-$155,000), South Townsville (-$125,000), and Gladstone Central (-$125,000), while houses are cheaper in Sunset (-$102,000), Happy Valley (-$79,000), and Townview (-$55,000).
This two-bedroom unit at 4/9 Kate St, East Mackay, is for sale for $340,000.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty said the data showed areas where there had been a high volume of new developments had recorded more muted price growth.
That was particularly the case in the inner Brisbane suburbs, where there had been a glut of investor-targetted apartments, but she said that would likely not be the case in the future.
“I think in the current environment, looking at what’s happened historically might not be the best guarantee of what we’ll see in future,” she said.
PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty.
“It’s extremely expensive to develop apartments at the moment. Typically, high-end apartments have sales prices upwards of $1m, so what we’re seeing is new housing supply in these inner areas tends to be skewed towards the upper end and there’s not many affordable additions. “Over the coming years, we’re going to see a worsening of the undersupply of that affordable apartment stock, which will be the complete reverse of the situation 10 years ago when we had an oversupply of apartment stock.”
Ms Flaherty said lot sizes had been shrinking in suburbs with lots of new house and land developments.
“In those parts of the suburb closest to amenity, block sizes tend to be smaller because the value of land is relatively higher,” she said.
Additional reporting by Nicholas Finch
