Domain Group’s new quarterly report showed that the gap between house and unit prices in Brisbane are now at its widest since June 2004. Median house prices jumped 1.2 per cent to $521,915 in the June quarter, while units dropped 1.8 per cent to $370,251. The gap is expected to widen even more by the end of 2016.

“The house and apartment markets have disengaged from each other, and you’d have to say on current trends this equal (price gap) record is on track to be broken,” said Andrew Wilson, chief economist of Domain Group. “This sort of disconnection between markets is not usual, as they generally work in tandem.”

According to Allen Wargent buyers’ agent Pete Wargent, one of the reasons for this disconnect is the rising popularity of Brisbane’s middle ring houses.

“Generally, the most demand at the moment is detached houses about 5-10 kilometres from the city,” he said. “The most competitive are buy and holds on 405 square metres, and investors seeking out 607 square metres where there is the potential to develop.”

But he also pointed out that median prices can be misleading.

“Sometimes you have to look beyond the median unit prices, which can be a bit skewed due to the building of smaller apartments,” Wargent said. “So it is important to not oversimplify their views to ‘houses are good and units are bad’ as that’s not always the case.”

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