Suburb Profiles

Brisbane City – Central Brisbane

Living in the Brisbane CBD is a relatively recent phenomenon and has become hugely popular. Forget about mowing the lawn and maintaining a private home and garden, city dwellers live in eyries in the sky, almost able to reach out and touch the fireworks in the many Brisbane festival events. Riparian Plaza has set the benchmark for CBD living with its 40+ levels of commercial and residential components.

They can walk to work, no need to take a car or public transport, have a few drinks at an award-winning restaurant and walk back home again. Brisbane's CBD has proved very popular with the young and upwardly mobile and also with retirees whose children have left the nest and who can now enjoy the benefits of a lifetime in the workforce.

At the heart of Brisbane is the CBD, full of boutiques, restaurants, cafes and nightspots. The majority of households in the city are lone person households (they make up over 50%) with just over 31% of city households being family groups. While there are some separate houses, most dwellings in the city area are units.

Bordered largely by the Brisbane River, Brisbane city is the heart of retail and business activity in the Brisbane shire. Popular with professionals and students looking to live as close to work or university (Queensland University of Technology - QUT) as possible, the city's property market has experienced strong demand in recent years, mainly with investors.

The western side of Petrie Terrace was one of the first residential areas developed after Brisbane was settled. About 300 houses, typically built on small lots, are located in this area. These properties have undergone significant renovation and the price of property in the Petrie Terrace precinct has grown substantially. To ensure this neighbourhood loses none of its historic character, the Brisbane City Council has a special control plan to ensure future developments are in accordance with existing residential and historic built environments.

While the older style housing is still attracting some buyers, it is the refurbishment of older buildings into apartments that has been attracting the most attention. Inner city residential high-rise complexes were first developed during the late 1970s in the area bounded by Alice and Margaret streets and included Club Lodge and The Gardens complex.

The catalyst for Brisbane city's residential surge was the conversion of two previous commercial buildings into residential apartments during the mid 1990s. Newspaper House was transformed into the Manor Apartments and Perry House into the Royal Albert Apartments. Several other former commercial buildings have since been converted to residential use with most conversions taking place along Ann and Edwards streets.

Today, the CBD skyline is dotted with residential towers including Evolution, Riparian, Felix, Flynn, Riverplace, Admiralty Towers, Charlotte and Festival Towers and the award winning Roma Street parklands comprising seven apartment buildings in an extensive inner city parkland setting. Living in Brisbane city means residents are in walking distance to major retailers, business offices, churches, parklands and gardens, QUT and all forms of public transport. Roma Street rail station also acts as a hub for intrastate and interstate coach and rail services.

Residents also have easy access to the Riverside Expressway leading onto the Southeast Motorway and the Gold Coast, the Victoria Bridge and Goodwill Pedestrian Bridge leading into South Brisbane, the Story Bridge leading into Kangaroo Point, and the Inner-City Bypass. The recently completed Kurilpa Bridge will now provide pedestrian access to the cultural hub of Brisbane at Southbank.