- Queensland ranks among the highest performing economies in the country
- Brisbane industrial and logistic rental market ranked second best in Australia
- Online shopping was a major driver of the logistics market
Despite the twin pressures of rising interest rates and global inflation muting expectations that the Australian economy might quickly bounce back to full strength, growth is predicted to remain steady.
Queensland has proven to rank among the highest-performing economies in the country.
Deloitte Access Economics (DAE) speculated that Queensland’s gross state product (GSP) would increase by 2.6% in 2022, which is right in line with the average national growth rate in the decade prior to COVID-19 (2.4%). GSP growth is speculated to grow to 2.7% in 2023 before lowering to 2.0% in 2024.
Brisbane’s industrial and logistics market rent is the second highest of any market in Australia, averaging $145 per square metre per annum at the end of Q1, 2023.
Queensland Research Manager Cushman and Wakefield Jake McKinnon says COVID-19 proved to have an effect on the industrial and commercial sector in Queensland – though not a negative one.
“The industrial market, through Covid-induced changes, was one of the highlights,” McKinnon said.
“The change in consumer spending to a larger percentage online really drove up logistics.
“Fundamentally, people didn’t leave their house, but it wasn’t a financial crisis; they just changed the way cash was leaving their wallets.”
According to McKninnon, this drove up deliveries from an average of circa 90 per day to 180.
“It was the uptick in online spending that went through the industrial market, leading to the requirement of additional space,” he said.
However, due to the Reserve Bank of Australia’s ten consecutive interest rate hikes (RBA), McKinnon expects a dip in online consumer spending that will recover sometime in 2025.
Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick says infrastructure development will continue to be a huge pillar of the sunshine state’s economic growth.
“Infrastructure investment will remain a major driver of economic growth and job creation, with our capital program reaching $64 billion in the four years to 2025-26.”
In Cushman & Wakefield’s Industrial Q1 Marketbeat, key leasing transactions across the final quarter of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 included the leasing of Lot 1-14 Anton Road in Hemmant to Visy, and Part Lots 36 and 38 at Charles Ulm Place in Eagle Farm to NETA Tire Service and Sales.
Key sales transactions for the two quarters were also highlighted, Cushman & Wakefield noted three including the sale of 112 Cullen Avenue, Eagle Farm, for $32.3 million, 3’6-48 River Road, Ipswich, for $21 million, and 194 Bruce Highway, for $12.8 million.
