The 2032 Olympic Games are still six years away, but a multibillion-dollar infrastructure spend has already sparked a real estate gold rush across South East Queensland. An exclusive new report by iBuyNew and Hotspotting reveals 27 key suburbs across Greater Brisbane and the Gold and Sunshine coasts are riding an estimated $53bn economic wave.

Eager buyers were already paying well above asking prices to get into these markets, with unit prices in the host regions skyrocketing by up to 78 per cent since the 2021 announcement of the Games, the report found. In the inner-Brisbane suburbs of Dutton Park and Herston, 100 per cent of units sold over the past year went for a premium over asking price. East Brisbane was close behind, with 83 per cent of apartments sold above asking price, followed by Bowen Hills at 80 per cent and Woolloon – gabba at 72 per cent.

That demand has translated into big wealth gains. Woolloongabba houses recorded a 30 per cent median price jump in the past 12 h b hl months, surging by roughly $354,800 to hit $1.537m. In Newstead, where houses are snapped up in an average of just 13 days, unit values leaped 25 per cent to $870,000.

iBuyNew chief executive Daniel Peterson said the transition of mega-projects into the construction phase was pushing prices to new heights. “There is a high number of properties in these key suburbs which are selling for above asking price, which means that demand is driving buyers to pay top dollar,” he said. “Transaction levels are particularly strong and days on market … are low, with the vast majority (86 per cent) of properties selling in less than 40 days.”

Mr Peterson noted unit markets were performing exceptionally well due to relative affordability and scarcity, with apartment prices across the host regions up between 67 per cent and 78 per cent since 2021. Median house prices in all three regions have now surged past the $1m mark. Other inner-city hotspots pinpointed by the report to ride the infrastructure wave include Spring Hill, Kelvin G d ll Grove, Fortitude Valley, Stones Corner, Coorparoo and Kangaroo Point.

On the Gold Coast, 73 per cent of Arundel apartments and 62 per cent of Ashmore apartments recently sold above their asking price. Key areas tipped for further boosts from projects such as the Gold Coast Arena include Southport, Labrador, Benowa and Molendinar. The Sunshine Coast’s rental market remained tight, with Kuluin recording a 0 per cent vacancy rate alongside a 17 per cent, or $155,300, jump in median house values. Unit markets also fired, with 66 per cent of apartments in Nambour and Mountain Creek selling at a premium. Other coastal hotspots were Maroochydore, Alexandra Headland, Bokarina, Warana, Wurtulla and Yandina.

Despite the frenzy, Mr Peterson warned investors that buying property blindly near a Games venue would not guarantee a windfall. “Proximity to an Olympic venue on its own rarely sustains value. Accessibility, longterm utility and supply discipline do,” he said. Hotspotting managing director Tim Graham said savvy property investors were looking well past the 2032 Games closing ceremony.

“It is about how infrastructure sequencing intersects with migration, employment growth and housing scarcity over the next decade,” Mr Graham said. “The Games will run for weeks. The infrastructure and demographic shifts surrounding them will play out over the next decade.” Darcy Lord and Sanchia Watchorn are long-term Newstead residents who watched the suburb grow into one of the top Olympic hotspots. “Newstead was never on the radar for me … (but) the area is thriving with life, thriving with people,” Mr Lord said. The couple are selling their apartment at 206/20 Wyandra St, Newstead, and plan to look for a house across the river in Bulimba to raise their daughter Lola, 2.