If you've been following the Brisbane 2032 venue plan, it's worth setting aside anything published before March 2025. The footprint has changed significantly:
The Gabba rebuild was scrapped in favour of a brand-new stadium at Victoria Park
The Brisbane athletes' village moved straight to the RNA Showgrounds in to Bowen Hills.
To help you make sense of what this means for your property strategy, we've pulled together what is confirmed as of October 2026, what the research says past Games did to property prices and how to evaluate your options as a buyer today.
The short answer: studies of earlier Games found price effects of a few per cent, close to the new precincts, with no city-wide jump. Nobody credible has put a number on a Games effect for Brisbane.
The Queensland Government's 2032 Delivery Plan (25 March 2025) funds 17 venues, seven new and ten upgraded, under a $7.1 billion program. The Australian Government contributes up to $3.435 billion and Queensland $3.665 billion. About $3.5 billion more is set aside for the athletes villages. Budgets for individual venues have not been published.
A quick word of caution for buyers. The final sports program is not confirmed until 2026 to 2027 and on 30 September 2026 the Treasurer would not rule out scaling back venues. Treat any "near a venue" argument with that in mind.
Below is the baseline across Brisbane, as of October 2026. This covers confirmed builds, site selections and current status.
| Venue | Suburb | What is planned | Status, October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brisbane Stadium | Victoria Park, Herston | New 63,000 seat stadium for the ceremonies and athletics. Afterwards the home of the Brisbane Lions, Brisbane Heat and Queensland Bulls | Builder shortlisted to one consortium on 30 September 2026. Construction from 2027, handover in 2031 |
| National Aquatic Centre | Spring Hill, next to Centenary Pool | New venue for swimming, artistic swimming, diving and the water polo finals. 25,000 seats for the Games, 8,000 afterwards | Early design concepts released July 2026. Early works due later in 2026, construction from 2027. No budget published |
| Athletes village | RNA Showgrounds, Bowen Hills | About 1,800 homes, plus an upgrade of the existing Main Arena to 20,000 seats | Under construction. Demolition of the Machinery Hill grandstand began in September 2026 |
| The Gabba | Woolloongabba | Used in 2032, then decommissioned. The site becomes a housing and entertainment precinct | Two consortia shortlisted. A separate 17,000 seat arena is planned next door, privately funded, indicatively open in 2031 |
| Chandler venues | Chandler | Upgrades to the Brisbane Aquatic Centre, Anna Meares Velodrome and BMX centre, plus a para sport facility | Planning |
| Queensland Tennis Centre | Tennyson | Upgrade, with a new 3,000 seat show court and 12 new match courts | Site investigations |
| Brisbane International Shooting Centre | Belmont | Upgrade | Planning |
| Redland Whitewater Centre | Birkdale | New canoe slalom venue | Federal approvals cleared. Completion planned for mid 2028 |
| Indoor sports centres | Logan and Petrie | Two new community indoor centres for sports such as basketball, boxing and netball | Design |
Three things the old version of this article had wrong, in case you have read them elsewhere:
QSAC at Nathan is not the athletics venue. Track and field events moved to Victoria Park. QSAC is designated solely for potential training use, accepted in principle and with no budget published.
The Gabba is not getting a mega-upgrade. It will be decommissioned after the Games and the land will be redeveloped.
There is no arena above Roma Street Station. That proposal was dropped. The new arena is planned beside The Gabba and the government has said it is not required for the Games themselves.
On cost, the government has not published a current figure for the stadium or the aquatic centre. The March 2025 review put the stadium at $3.785 billion and media reports since have ranged from $3.6 billion to $3.8 billion without citing an official document. At a parliamentary estimates hearing on 22 July 2026, the delivery authority said both venues sit within the $7.1 billion program and that budgets will be released once they are agreed with the Australian Government. The ABC reported that month that the aquatic centre design had gone back for rework to fit the budget. The authority told the hearing its scope is unchanged and early design concepts released on 24 July 2026 show three new covered pools and a restored Centenary Pool.
The village is planned to leave around 1,800 homes at the showgrounds. After the Games, Lendlease plans to take them to market as build to rent or for sale.
Victoria Park has been contested. Heritage applications under federal law were rejected in January and May 2026, and opponents said in May 2026 that they planned a Supreme Court challenge. We could not find any record of one being filed. A draft legacy plan for the precinct was open for consultation from 3 August to 27 September 2026. Under it, around two-thirds of Victoria Park stays as green and public space.
The proposed Gold Coast athletes village has moved to RACV Royal Pines Resort in Benowa, replacing the original Robina Town Centre site.
However, the project is still in proposal stage. The village could house up to 3,000 competitors and officials and RACV has applied to amend the Royal Pines resort scheme to lift the maximum number of dwellings on the site from 1,167 to 3,367, with buildings of up to 25 storeys (Gold Coast Bulletin, 14 July 2026). The State decides the application, not the council and councillors have raised concerns about the lack of information. We could not find a decision, a builder or a timetable. If you are buying in Benowa or near the resort, that application is worth watching.
The one large new venue is the Gold Coast Arena at Southport. at least 12,000 seats, $480 million, a preferred consortium named in March 2026, construction from 2027 and completion due in 2030. It is funded by the City of Gold Coast and its private partners, outside the state program. The Gold Coast Hockey Centre at Labrador is being upgraded. The rest are existing venues, including the stadiums at Carrara and Robina, with temporary sites planned at Broadbeach and the Southport Broadwater Parklands. The City of Gold Coast says final venue locations are confirmed in 2026 and the sports program in 2027.
On transport, Light Rail Stage 3 from Broadbeach South to Burleigh Heads opened on 9 August 2026. Stage 4 to Coolangatta was cancelled on 1 September 2025 and replaced with a bus service. If you were sold a southern Gold Coast property on the promise of light rail, that promise is gone.
The Sunshine Coast village is in the Maroochydore City Centre. Early works began in December 2025 and enable more than 1,800 homes. The government describes it as an integrated village, arena and cultural precinct. Sunshine Coast Stadium at Bokarina goes from about 1,000 permanent seats to 10,680, with 20,000 in Games mode. A new mountain bike centre is also planned.
The rail line known as The Wave is the most misreported project on the coast. It has three stages, and only one is funded to build:
So a train to Maroochydore is not in the funded plan. The government's stated aim is a public transport link from Birtinya to Maroochydore and the airport by 2032.
Rockhampton hosts rowing and canoe sprint on the Fitzroy River, approved by the IOC on 17 September 2026. Barlow Park in Cairns and the Toowoomba Showgrounds are being upgraded and Townsville and Mackay have existing venues on the list.
For most buyers the transport matters more than the venues, because it is still there in 2033.
The table below shows where South East Queensland’s key transport projects stand as of October 2026, covering confirmed builds, routes and current progress.
| Project | What it is | Cost | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cross River Rail | 10.2 km rail line with twin tunnels under the CBD. New stations at Boggo Road, Woolloongabba, Albert Street, Roma Street and Exhibition | $19.041 billion | Under construction. First services in 2029 |
| Brisbane Metro | High frequency electric bus network, 21 km and 18 stations | $1.5 billion to $1.6 billion | Operating since early 2025. Extensions are at business case stage only |
| Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail | Kuraby to Beenleigh widened from two tracks to four | $5.75 billion | Major works contract awarded February 2026. Due 2031 |
| The Wave Stage 1 | Heavy rail, Beerwah to Caloundra | $5.5 billion allocated | Contracts awarded |
| Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 | Broadbeach South to Burleigh Heads, eight stations | $1.549 billion | Open |
| Coomera Connector Stage 1 | About 16 km of motorway, Coomera to Nerang | $3.5 billion | Northern section open since December 2025. The rest under construction |
Cross River Rail also adds three Gold Coast stations, at Pimpama, Merrimac and Hope Island. We could not find a dedicated new station or busway for Victoria Park in any government source.
Brisbane has had an extraordinary five-year run. Between 2021 and mid-2026, Greater Brisbane dwelling values rose 55.4%, to a median of $1,048,880 (Cotality Home Value Index, 1 October 2026), while regional Queensland wasn't far behind at 52.0%.
By late 2026, the market has turned. On Cotality's figures, values fell 4.7% in the September quarter and sit 5.4% below their May 2026 peak. Houses now have a median of $1,146,078 and units $834,627. PropTrack has Brisbane 3.9% below its March 2026 peak after six monthly falls.
Crucially, Cotality puts that down to interest rate rises and tax changes, not Games headlines.
So, what happens when you zoom in on the suburbs sitting right next to the proposed 2032 precincts? Sale medians and sales counts are for the past 12 months. Five year growth is Cotality's change in median value. All from Cotality's OnTheHouse suburb pages, read 1 to 2 October 2026.
| Suburb | Houses | Units | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median price | 5 year growth | Median price | 5 year growth | |
| Brisbane | ||||
| Kelvin Grove | $1,490,00042 sales | Not available | $830,00097 sales | Not available |
| Spring Hill | $1,870,850median value | 46.5% | $720,000156 sales | 75.6% |
| Bowen Hills | Too few sales | Too few sales | $695,000222 sales | 92.2% |
| Fortitude Valley | Too few sales | 40.1% | $681,000436 sales | 76.2% |
| Woolloongabba | $1,525,00038 sales | 40.8% | $779,500153 sales | 87.5% |
| East Brisbane | $1,705,00052 sales | 42.4% | $785,00095 sales | 79.9% |
| Kangaroo Point | $1,691,00021 sales | 35.1% | $850,000274 sales | 79.9% |
| Dutton Park | $1,555,00013 sales | 28.2% | $795,50017 sales | 87.8% |
| Gold Coast | ||||
| Benowa | $1,800,000124 sales | 59.1% | $1,000,00074 sales | 55.1% |
| Robina | $1,426,500296 sales | 71.1% | $930,000217 sales | 83.6% |
| Sunshine Coast | ||||
| Maroochydore | $1,250,000212 sales | 52.8% | $900,000452 sales | 67.3% |
| Bokarina | $1,650,00040 sales | 60.0% | $1,182,50037 sales | 67.4% |
| Birtinya | $1,250,00063 sales | 45.8% | $859,00083 sales | 79.0% |
| Warana | $1,700,50050 sales | 58.9% | $744,00026 sales | 73.2% |
Two things stand out here. Inner Brisbane units near the venues have run well ahead of the city, up 76% to 92% in five years against 55.4% for all Greater Brisbane dwellings. Houses in the same suburbs have run behind it, at 28% to 47%. That is a story about units catching up across inner Brisbane as much as anything Olympic and nothing in these figures separates a Games effect from the wider South East Queensland boom.
A caution on the data, however. The sale medians cover the past 12 months, so they mostly predate the recent falls. Suburbs with fewer than about 20 sales are unreliable and we have left those cells out. Spring Hill houses are the example, the two main data providers report sale medians of $1,225,000 and $2,285,000 from fewer than 20 sales each, so the table shows Cotality's modelled median value for all houses in the suburb (31 August 2026) and not a sales figure.
For the coast suburbs, city-wide comparisons are thinner. PropTrack's median dwelling value for the Gold Coast is $1.158 million (September 2026) and we could not find a five year change from a primary source. For the Sunshine Coast, realestate.com.au figures to August 2026 put the median dwelling at $1.213 million, up 49% in five years, as reported by Sunshine Coast News.
There is published research on this and it is more modest than the headlines.
The pattern is small, measured effects that sit close to the new precinct or stadium. None of these studies supports a city doubling in value because of an Olympics.
For Brisbane itself, we could not find any analysis from PropTrack, Cotality, the Reserve Bank or a major bank that puts a number on a Games effect. The forecasts of prices doubling by 2032 that circulated in 2024 and 2025 came from agencies and did not publish a method, so we have removed that claim from this article. CBRE (April 2026) argues that Olympic cities did better in the four years after their Games than before and that fears of a slump afterwards are not supported, but it has not published its figures.
Brisbane's vacancy rate was 0.9% in August 2026, with 3,090 dwellings available, 10% fewer than a year earlier (SQM Research, release republished by AdviserVoice). SQM's asking rents for the week ending 28 September 2026 were $839 a week for houses, up 7.7% over 12 months and $648 for units, up 5.5%. Cotality's median Brisbane rent is $742 a week, up 6.4% over the year to mid September 2026.
There is no official rent forecast to 2032. The only published projection is from PropTrack (November 2025) and runs to 2035: Greater Brisbane house rents rising from $650 to $852 a week and unit rents from $640 to $839. It is an inflation based projection and does not isolate a Games effect.
Monitoring by AHURI and Q Shelter (November 2025) found one bedroom rents rose 8% in Brisbane, 7% on the Sunshine Coast and 5% on the Gold Coast in the year to June 2025, with affordability worsening where Games investment is concentrated.
A lot of units are planned near the venues. Urbis counted 75 inner Brisbane apartment projects with more than 20,000 apartments between them: 4,934 under construction, 6,580 approved and not started and 8,536 at application stage (realestate.com.au, March 2026). About 35% are at risk of not going ahead, so the real number will be lower. On top of that, the Woolloongabba priority development area allows for more than 16,000 homes over its life and a proposal for Bowen Hills would lift heights from 30 to 50 storeys and allow up to 27,000. The villages themselves become housing after the Games. If you are buying a unit in these suburbs, the building next door in 2034 matters as much as the stadium.
Building is expensive and slow. The Queensland Audit Office names the construction workforce shortfall as a key risk to the Games program (Major projects 2025). Westpac (May 2026) has construction costs rising about 6% to 8% a year. For anyone buying off the plan, that means a real chance of delay and a sunset clause worth reading closely.
Resumptions sit with the transport projects, not the venues. We found no residential resumptions for Victoria Park, the Gabba, the Bowen Hills village or Royal Pines. The Wave's Stage 3 route was revised to avoid about 80 homes and businesses, but 52 waterfront homes at Mountain Creek are still slated for the Mooloolah River Interchange. Logan and Gold Coast Faster Rail involves hundreds of full and partial takes between Kuraby and Beenleigh.
The plan can still change. It has changed once already, budgets for the two biggest venues are not yet agreed and the Royal Pines village is not yet approved.
The cycle is bigger than the Games. Brisbane prices are falling in late 2026 and Cotality points to interest rate rises and tax changes. The tax changes are now law: from 1 July 2027, negative gearing on residential property is limited to new builds and the 50% capital gains tax discount is replaced with indexation. Properties held at 12 May 2026 are exempt from the negative gearing change and the capital gains changes apply only to gains after 1 July 2027 (ATO). The detailed definition of a new build is still in draft legislation, so investors should take advice before relying on it. Six years out, those forces will move your purchase price far more than a venue will.
We act for buyers across Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast. If you are weighing a property near one of these precincts, we can check the planning, the supply and the comparable sales before you commit. Book a discovery call.
Some of the homes we have bought for clients in the suburbs on this page:
Studies of past Games found small effects of a few per cent, mostly in suburbs next to regeneration precincts or new stadiums, not city-wide jumps. No PropTrack, Cotality, Reserve Bank or major bank analysis puts a number on a Games effect for Brisbane. The bigger drivers in 2026 are interest rates, tax changes and housing undersupply.
In Brisbane: Herston, Spring Hill, Bowen Hills and Fortitude Valley (Brisbane Stadium, the National Aquatic Centre and the athletes village), Woolloongabba, East Brisbane and Kangaroo Point (the Gabba precinct), plus Chandler, Belmont, Tennyson and Birkdale. On the coasts: Bokarina, Birtinya and Warana (Sunshine Coast Stadium), Maroochydore (village), Benowa (Royal Pines village) and Southport (Gold Coast Arena). Sport allocations are still being finalised in 2026 and 2027.
Greater Brisbane dwelling values rose 55.4% over the five years to September 2026, to a median of $1,048,880 (Cotality). Prices have since fallen for six straight months and PropTrack puts Brisbane 3.9% below its March 2026 peak.
There is no official forecast to 2032. A PropTrack projection to 2035 has Greater Brisbane house rents rising from $650 to $852 a week and unit rents from $640 to $839. Brisbane's vacancy rate is 0.9% (SQM Research, August 2026) and Cotality's median rent is $742 a week, up 6.4% over the year.
Research on Sydney 2000 found no bust after the Games. Research on London 2012 found a slight, short lived effect in the wards around the Olympic Park. CBRE says host city markets did better in the four years after their Games than before, but has not published its figures.
Brisbane's village is at the RNA Showgrounds in Bowen Hills, with about 1,800 homes that go to market as build to rent or for sale after the Games. The Gold Coast village is proposed within RACV Royal Pines at Benowa, for up to 3,000 competitors and officials. The Sunshine Coast village is in the Maroochydore City Centre, with works enabling more than 1,800 homes. Together the villages hold about 16,400 beds.
Header image, artist impression: Queensland Government, CC BY 4.0, cropped.
Figures are current as at 2 October 2026 and come from the sources linked. This article is general information, not financial advice.
