Brisbane landlords, Brisbane's rental market

Your Brisbane investment property shopping list: What tenants really want!

If you’re buying a Brisbane investment property you’ll need to know what tenants are looking for, and will pay more rent to have. You’ll want to know how they choose their home’s location. Like any small business, the best investors know their customers inside out, and they get maximum returns from meeting the highest demand. They buy properties that tick off tenants’ wish lists.

(Spot quiz – do you think they prefer ceiling fans or airconditioning in their bedrooms? Read on for the answer!)

So every 2 years we do a wide-spread survey of inner-Brisbane’s tenants, asking them to rank the features they want in a home.  To tell us if staying close to shops are more important than a nearby bus stop. What info they want on rental home advertising. How their Brisbane property managers can provide better service. Our latest survey is just in and here’s some of what they had to say:

If you imagined the most sought-after features in a rental home would be all about luxury, you’ve got it all wrong! Brisbane’s tenants are a pragmatic bunch, ranking off-street parking in first spot. Rating this their number one feature in every survey since 2013, it’s evidence Brisbane is short on carparking supply.

Brisbane investment propertyWith our wonderful climate, tenants want great outdoor living spaces as second priority. This has been a top 3 item in our tenant surveys since we started them a decade ago, and shows Brisbanites like to spend time outside. It’s an entertainment space, a place to relax and, usually in an apartment, the only secondary living space where you can escape your flatmates or family!

And how about location? Getting to work and study is most important to Brisbane tenants and being close to public transport their highest criteria. Says one tenant: “Most people work/study 5 days a week, but shop and socialise once or twice. So my preference is to reduce travel time on those 5 days.”

And that quiz on fans versus aircond?? Despite being around since the 1800’s (and one of the most affordable features a landlord can add to their property), ceiling fans are the feature that’s risen fastest through our surveys – and yes they rank higher than airconditioning in bedrooms!

Over the past decade more than 2000 Brisbane tenants have completed our tenant surveys, including 233 this year. They’ve shared how they choose their home, what’s not important to them (hint: it’s costing your body corp heaps to maintain!) and by studying the results we’ve tracked the changes in demand over the years.

It’s rich data for anyone buying a Brisbane investment property who wants to maximize its appeal and their rental returns. For a free copy of the survey report please contact our New Client Manager on 0404 391324 or ncm@beesnees.com.au