Downsizers swapping standalone houses for water views are pushing Brisbane’s luxury riverfront apartment market to new heights.
A lack of options and little space left to develop is adding to demand, with riverfront properties expected to pull serious returns ahead of the 2032 Olympics. In 2025 alone, riverfront property sales grew 14 per cent.
The Queensland capital has witnessed mammoth investments into a number of developments along its main artery, as Olympics infrastructure projects begin in earnest and construction costs continue to rise
Consolidated Properties Group’s $1bn Newstead development, Castile, is being described as the last opportunity for riverfront living in the inner northern suburb. Located at 47 Skyring Terrace, Castile consists of a 25-storey tower of 227 apartments and a six-floor, 12-residence building on the true riverfront.
Consolidated Properties chairman and chief executive officer Don O’Rorke told Mansion Castile was a one-of-a-kind development which has already attracted significant interest.
“We’ve got the best site in Brisbane, arguably; river frontage facing north,” he said. “We have development approval, we have the funding, and we have a builder. That combination of factors makes it a pretty scarce project.”
Hutchinson Builders will begin construction on the Woods Bagot-designed development in September.
More than 600 interested buyers have registered for the first tranche of sales, which consists of about 15 per cent of the total development, or 30 apartments, Mr O’Rorke said.
“We’re expecting that we will fill that requirement for our tranche one sales pretty quickly,” he said.
Two-bed apartments start at $1.85m, while four-bedders are priced as high as $15m.
Mr O’Rorke said the decision to offer just 15 per cent of the total apartments was inspired by a recent experience at the group’s Monarch development in Toowong, about 10km away. That first tranche drew $450m in sales.
“Experience has shown us that there is significant price growth over the construction time. We’ve got direct experience with this at Monarch at Toowong, which was a similar size project, and we had capital growth over the life of the project up to 50 per cent on some of those original apartments. That’s why we’re in no rush to sell.”
The prospect of a growing number of Baby Boomers who will be looking to downsize over the next five years also made for the prospect of better returns.
“We are catering to the Baby Boomer downsizer demographic,” Mr O’Rorke said. “Their existing homes have doubled in value since Covid, their share portfolios have doubled in value, they don’t mind the higher interest rates because they’re getting interest on their deposits, their expenses are at their lowest ever.
“So they’re in good shape and they’re looking for the next stage of their life – a quality product, the lock-up-and-go-on-holidays product.
“Baby Boomers are looking to move on to the next phase of their life and they love riverfront property. They especially love Newstead because there’s restaurants everywhere, there’s gyms, there’s cinemas. They love the amenity.”
Castile, which is set for a 2029 completion, is not the only riverfront development attracting attention in Brisbane. Along with Monarch, Silk by developer Graya in St Lucia is also drawing interest, as is a proposed mid-rise by Cardo Property in the tightly-held New Farm enclave.
Limited availability and rising interest from cashed up Baby Boomers has helped Brisbane’s riverfront market remain attractive despite rising construction costs, Colliers’ Queensland director Andrew Scriven said.
“Fundamentally it’s scarcity – there’s only so much riverfront,” he told Mansion. “If you don’t have an ocean view or water view, it’s considered the next best view, probably closely followed by park. And if you can put water and park together, you’re doing well in Brisbane. It’s the prestige place to live.”
“When you’ve got rising construction costs, some of the only sites that can work from a feasibility point of view are those at the high end or more prestigious level.
“And there’s a market out there for them – people are moving out of large homes in the suburbs to downsize for lifestyle. We’re still scratching the surface of that particular market.”
Mr Scriven said the post-budget cooldown of what not long ago was a very frothy Brisbane market is not the signal of doom some have professed it as.
“The Brisbane housing market, on average, grew 15 per cent for each of the last three years – that’s 45 per cent if you don’t compound it,” he said.
“That’s unheard-of growth. I think we’re just moving back into what we’d consider to be a normal period. The fundamentals are right for the southeast Queensland property market to continue, albeit at a slower pace. The population growth is there, the employment is there, and we don’t have the supply.”
Originally Published in The Australian by Joseph Carbone. View online article HERE.