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Brisbane's most expensive suburbs in 2026, from the buy side

Twelve suburbs ranked by what houses actually sold for, and what we have paid in them for clients. Written by a buyers agent, not a lender.

Updated October 2026. By Jacob Butler, buyers agent: 48 of Hunter Gather's 75 purchases above $2 million were his.

Every list of Brisbane's dearest suburbs is written by someone selling something that is not a house: a loan, an agent referral, a subscription. This one is written by the people who buy in these suburbs for a living. The ranking is PropTrack's median house price for the twelve months to August 2026, with one rule: a suburb needs twenty house sales in the year to make the list, so a median built on a dozen acreage sales does not outrank a suburb with eighty.

The median is where the list starts and where it stops being useful. In Teneriffe, 22 houses sold in a year. In Ascot, the five-bedroom median is nearly double the three-bedroom one. Street to street, the gap inside these suburbs is often a million dollars. So each entry carries the streets that set the ceiling, what the number hides, what we have bought there, and what to check before you offer.

The twelve, ranked

Median house price for the twelve months to August 2026 (PropTrack), suburbs with at least 20 house sales in the year. Change figures are Stash Property's house median over one and five years. The last two columns are the Hunter Gather purchases record.

#SuburbMedian houseSold, 12 months12-month change5-year changeWe have boughtOur dearest
1Teneriffe$5,000,00022+37%+92%4$1,231,000
2New Farm$3,575,00080+30%+96%4$2,375,000
3Ascot$2,937,50071+17%+69%0–
4Hamilton$2,610,00052+30%+66%3$2,260,000
5Pullenvale$2,430,00037+8%+73%1$2,560,000
6Paddington$2,400,000135+7%+63%1$2,000,000
7Bulimba$2,355,00086+13%+68%25$5,050,000
8Kalinga$2,315,50026+6%+80%0–
9Gumdale$2,300,00029-8%+68%0–
10Hendra$2,218,75092+6%+61%3$2,400,000
11Hawthorne$2,210,00072-13%+47%17$6,500,000
12Fig Tree Pocket$2,200,00066+19%+50%0–

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01

Teneriffe

4005
$5,000,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
22Houses sold in the year
+92%Five-year change
+37%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

Teneriffe Hill, from Teneriffe House of 1865 along the ridge, and the handful of houses behind the woolstores on Vernon Terrace and Macquarie Street.

What the median hides

A $5 million median on 22 sales. Houses are scarce here; nearly everything that trades is an apartment in a converted woolstore or a newer building around Gasworks, and the few houses on the hill set a price no other suburb reaches. Buy a house in Teneriffe and you are buying a street, not a suburb.

What we have bought here

4 homes for clients, the dearest at $1,231,000.

$1,231,000, 2025

$860,000, 2024

Every Teneriffe purchase

What to check

The riverside streets and the low ground along Vernon Terrace sit inside the river flood overlay and the 2011 and 2022 extents. For an apartment, the body corporate's flood and insurance record for both years matters more than the building's age. Pull the FloodWise Property Report for the lot and get the insurance quote before the building and pest.

02

New Farm

4005
$3,575,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
80Houses sold in the year
+96%Five-year change
+30%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The park end: Sydney Street, Lamington Street and the short streets that run into New Farm Park. Moray Street and Oxlade Drive on the river.

What the median hides

More than 70 per cent of New Farm's dwellings are apartments, so a $3.6 million house median describes a thin, tightly held market: interwar Queenslanders and Federation houses on 400 to 600 square metres, rarely advertised. Five-bedroom houses here traded at a $5.3 million median in the same year.

What we have bought here

4 homes for clients, the dearest at $2,375,000.

$2,375,000

$1,620,000, 2025

$900,000, 2024

Every New Farm purchase

What to check

New Farm is a river peninsula and the low ground floods: the park, the riverbank below Sydney Street and the ground floors of the river-facing blocks. The Sydney Street ferry terminal was destroyed in 2011. Ask for floor levels on anything near the park, and read the 2022 claim history before you fall for the view.

03

Ascot

4007
$2,937,500Median house, year to Aug 2026
71Houses sold in the year
+69%Five-year change
+17%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The hill and the racecourse side: Lancaster Road, Kitchener Road, Towers Street, Sutherland Avenue, and the streets above Racecourse Road.

What the median hides

Blocks of 800 square metres and more on the hill are the point of Ascot over Hamilton or Clayfield: a family gets the yard and the trees. The $2.9 million median sits on 71 sales, but the five-bedroom median is $4.9 million and the three-bedroom one $1.75 million. The suburb is two markets with one postcode.

What we have bought here

None yet. The read above is from inspecting and bidding here for clients who bought nearby.

What to check

Ascot sits between the two runways. Type the address into Brisbane Airport's flight path tool, then stand in the backyard at 7am and 9pm. The Hamilton side and the flats toward Kingsford Smith Drive carry flood overlays; the hill does not. Five Ascot properties are on the state heritage register and many more sit under the character overlay.

04

Hamilton

4007
$2,610,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
52Houses sold in the year
+66%Five-year change
+30%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

Toorak Hill: Annie Street, Toorak Road, Hillside Crescent, Queens Road, Royal Terrace and Langside Road, the 1860s villas and the biggest blocks in the suburb.

What the median hides

Two suburbs in one. Units outnumber houses nearly three to one, almost all of them on the flats at Portside and Northshore, and the $2.6 million house median belongs to the hill. The crest addresses rarely reach the portals; this is where the quiet sale is the normal sale.

What we have bought here

3 homes for clients, the dearest at $2,260,000.

$2,260,000

$855,000, 2025

Every Hamilton purchase

What to check

Kingsford Smith Drive is the flood line. The whole of the flats sits inside the one per cent flood planning area and went under in 2011 and 2022; the hill and the Oxford Street side did not. Below the drive, ask for floor levels and the basement car park level, and get the insurance quote before the building and pest.

05

Pullenvale

4069
$2,430,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
37Houses sold in the year
+73%Five-year change
+8%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

Grandview Road, Pullenvale Road and the acreage lanes off Moggill Road toward Brookfield.

What the median hides

Acreage inside the city: one to five hectare blocks, 37 sales a year, and a $2.4 million median that buys land before it buys a house. Buyers come here for the horse paddock and the quiet, and stay for the school. The ceiling is set by the rebuilt homesteads with city glimpses.

What we have bought here

1 home for clients, the dearest at $2,560,000.

$2,560,000, 2026

Every Pullenvale purchase

What to check

Bushfire overlay on the ridges and the bush edges, on-site sewerage on most blocks, and creek flats that flood on the Moggill Creek side. Check the overlay map, the septic approvals and the water supply before anything else. There is no train; the bus runs along Moggill Road.

06

Paddington

4064
$2,400,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
135Houses sold in the year
+63%Five-year change
+7%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

Fernberg Road and the ridges above it, Latrobe Terrace, and the big-block streets on the Bardon side.

What the median hides

The most liquid market on this list: 135 house sales a year at a $2.4 million median, because almost the whole suburb is freestanding character housing and it turns over. Small and steep is normal, 400 to 600 square metres in the Terraces, so the premium goes to a flat block, a view and a finished renovation.

What we have bought here

1 home for clients, the dearest at $2,000,000.

$2,000,000, 2025

Every Paddington purchase

What to check

Rosalie is the flood pocket. The old creek runs in culverts under the streets and backed up through the drains in 1974, 2011 and 2022, more than a metre through the lowest streets, and insurers have been withdrawing flood cover there. Check the character overlay before you plan an extension; it covers most of the pre-1947 stock.

07

Bulimba

4171
$2,355,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
86Houses sold in the year
+68%Five-year change
+13%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The riverfront streets either side of the ferry, then the flat grid behind Oxford Street: Cambridge, Taylor, Duke, Stuart, Godwin and Barramul.

What the median hides

Our most-bought suburb, and the one clients most often lose at auction. The $2.4 million median covers 86 sales from post-war cottages to riverfront homes that set the ceiling above $5 million. The flat grid is the draw: school, kindy, cinema and CityCat on foot, and a child can grow from the pram to the ferry without the family moving.

What we have bought here

25 homes for clients, the dearest at $5,050,000.

$5,050,000, 2025

$2,800,000, 2023

$2,445,000, 2025

Every Bulimba purchase

What to check

The flats between Riding Road and the river went under in 2011 and again in 2022, and the 2011 peak list ran to most streets north of Oxford Street. Council has since fitted backflow devices, but floor levels and the insurance quote come first. Most pre-1947 houses carry the character overlay.

08

Kalinga

4030
$2,315,500Median house, year to Aug 2026
26Houses sold in the year
+80%Five-year change
+6%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

Kalinga's own grid between Sandgate Road and Kalinga Park, the streets off Park Road and Nelson Street with the big interwar homes.

What the median hides

A small suburb that most lists leave off because it is so often filed under Clayfield. Twenty-six sales at a $2.3 million median: large interwar homes on wide blocks, Kalinga Park at the end of the street and the Eagle Junction trains a short walk away. The buyers are Clayfield buyers who found the yard they could not get there.

What we have bought here

None yet. The read above is from inspecting and bidding here for clients who bought nearby.

What to check

Kedron Brook is the flood story. Kalinga Park went under in February 2022 and the low streets beside it carry the overlay; the streets up toward Sandgate Road sit clear. Aircraft noise from the parallel runway reaches here; test it at 7am. Many of the interwar homes sit under the character overlay.

09

Gumdale

4154
$2,300,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
29Houses sold in the year
+68%Five-year change
-8%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The acreage lanes between Old Cleveland Road and Tilley Road, and the newer estates on New Cleveland Road.

What the median hides

The bayside acreage belt: 4,000 square metre blocks and bigger, 29 sales at a $2.3 million median, and the money goes into the house, the shed and the pool rather than the land rate. Twenty minutes to the CBD outside the peak, Carindale ten minutes away, and a brief that usually starts with the words "the kids need space".

What we have bought here

None yet. The read above is from inspecting and bidding here for clients who bought nearby.

What to check

Rural residential zoning sets what you can build and subdivide; check it before you count on a second dwelling. Koala habitat and bushfire overlays cover parts of the suburb, some blocks are on-site sewerage, and there is no train. Lower blocks toward the creek lines carry overland flow paths.

10

Hendra

4011
$2,218,750Median house, year to Aug 2026
92Houses sold in the year
+61%Five-year change
+6%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The station streets: Chermside, Lethem, Bowley, Best and Sefton Road, the grid laid out around the 1882 station. Then the racecourse side, where the new builds are.

What the median hides

Houses make up nearly nine in ten dwellings, and 92 of them sold in the year at a $2.2 million median. Hendra is the same schools as Ascot and Clayfield with a bigger, flatter yard, which is why it has crept above both of its grander neighbours. Three homes are on the state heritage register.

What we have bought here

3 homes for clients, the dearest at $2,400,000.

$2,400,000, 2026

$1,820,000, 2022

Every Hendra purchase

What to check

Kedron Brook and Schulz Canal, not the river. The Promenade, The Avenue, The Grange, Rothwell Crescent and the airport-edge streets sit inside the 2022 extent and the one per cent flood line, and Aviation High closed for a term in 2022. The station and church streets tested clear. Flight path noise applies across the suburb.

11

Hawthorne

4171
$2,210,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
72Houses sold in the year
+47%Five-year change
-13%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The River Avenues: Virginia Avenue, Gordon Street, Lindsay Street and the short streets down to Hardcastle Park. Then the Riding Road ridge toward Balmoral.

What the median hides

Large pre-1947 Queenslanders on 600 to 800 square metre blocks, very few units, and 72 sales at a $2.2 million median that understates the ridge and the river. This is where we have bought most often above $3 million, and where a flat block with a yard is the whole brief.

What we have bought here

17 homes for clients, the dearest at $6,500,000.

$6,500,000, 2021

$4,410,000, 2026

$3,965,000, 2024

Every Hawthorne purchase

What to check

The river avenues, Barton Road and the low blocks around Hardcastle Park carry river flood overlays; ask for floor levels. The parallel runway, open since July 2020, put arrivals over Hawthorne that were not there before. Most pre-1947 houses carry the character overlay and some streets fall under the stricter sub-category.

12

Fig Tree Pocket

4069
$2,200,000Median house, year to Aug 2026
66Houses sold in the year
+50%Five-year change
+19%Twelve-month change

The streets that set the ceiling

The river bend: Jesmond Road, Fig Tree Pocket Road toward the water, and the cul-de-sacs that end at the Brisbane River.

What the median hides

A river suburb that reads like acreage: 1,000 to 4,000 square metre blocks, 66 sales at a $2.2 million median, Lone Pine at one end and Kenmore's shops at the other. The ceiling is the riverfront, and the riverfront is also the flood map. The two facts are not separable here.

What we have bought here

None yet. The read above is from inspecting and bidding here for clients who bought nearby.

What to check

Fig Tree Pocket flooded hard in 2011 and again in 2022, and the river-facing blocks sit squarely inside the overlay. Buy on the high side of the suburb or buy with floor levels, a flood search and an insurance quote in hand before the offer. On-site sewerage on some of the larger blocks; bushfire overlay on the bush edges.

How homes above $2 million change hands in Brisbane

Above $2 million, a Brisbane home is often sold before it is advertised, and the reason is not secrecy. A vendor at this level has more to lose from a public campaign that stalls than from a quiet sale at a fair price, so the selling agent rings the buyers they know will get to settlement. Pre-market means the campaign is booked and you are inspecting before it launches. Off-market means there is no campaign. Both are ordinary at this price.

Our own record is the honest version of this. Of the 75 homes we have bought above $2 million, the method is recorded for 25: thirteen on-market, eight off-market, two pre-market, one sourced pre-market and secured on-market, and one at auction. The share that never reaches a portal is real, but the on-market purchase is still the most common one. What changes above $2 million is not where the home is found. It is that the selling agent is the best negotiator in the room, and they do not work for you.

The quiet ones: where the ceiling beats the list

Four suburbs the median leaves off, where we have paid more than the twelve's medians and would again.

Clayfield

$2,184,000 median on 106 sales, thirteenth by sixteen thousand dollars.

The dearest home we have ever bought is in Clayfield: $7,780,000 on 2,140 square metres. The Bonney Avenue ridge and Adelaide Street East run past 1,000 square metre blocks, more than thirty homes are individually heritage-listed, and the character streets near the private schools are the most tightly held in 4011. The median misses the list because the suburb is big and the Wooloowin end sells for half of what the ridge does.

Balmoral

$2,000,000 median on 71 sales.

We have bought 22 homes in Balmoral, more than in any suburb on the list except Bulimba. The hill tops out around 45 metres, higher than anything in Bulimba, and houses on the right side of Suvla Street, Apex Street and Fifth Avenue look straight at the city. A full block with a view is the Balmoral purchase; our top is $3.5 million. A full block without one is the Balmoral value.

Camp Hill

$2,025,000 median on 196 sales, the busiest market on this page.

Post-war homes on 600 to 800 square metres, most of them lifted, extended or replaced in the last fifteen years, and a steady run of knockdown-rebuilds on the flatter streets. A properly finished house here sells well above the median: our $3.75 million on Newman Avenue was secured pre-market after a search that saw 83 homes, 94 per cent of them off or pre-market.

Yeronga

$1,790,000 median on 72 sales.

The Brisbane Corso is the exception that proves the median wrong. The four most expensive sales in the suburb are all on the Corso, and all on the flood map. We bought a Corso home for $4,075,000 in July 2026 for clients who understood both halves of that sentence. The ridge around Yeronga Memorial Park held its value through both floods; the low streets are priced accordingly.

Burbank ($3.64 million on 12 sales) and Chandler ($3.45 million on 15) would sit second and fourth on raw median. Both are acreage markets where a dozen sales a year set the number, so they are here rather than in the table. We bought in Chandler at $3.93 million in 2026, and the brief was the same as Gumdale's: space for the kids, twenty minutes from the city, and a house the family does not outgrow. Next on the list: Auchenflower ($2.18 million), St Lucia ($2.1 million), Highgate Hill ($2.09 million), Indooroopilly and Camp Hill at $2 million.

Questions buyers ask

What is the most expensive suburb in Brisbane?

Teneriffe, with a median house price of $5,000,000 for the twelve months to August 2026 on 22 sales. Houses are rare there; most of the suburb is apartments in converted woolstores, which is why the house median sits so far above New Farm's $3,575,000.

Why is Teneriffe so expensive?

Scarcity. The suburb is mostly heritage woolstore apartments and newer towers, so only a handful of houses on Teneriffe Hill trade in a year, and each one competes against the river, the city on foot and almost no supply. The apartment market underneath is a different price altogether: the unit median is about $1.15 million.

Hamilton or Ascot?

Ascot for the yard: 800 square metre blocks on the hill are the point of the suburb, and the five-bedroom median was $4.9 million. Hamilton for the river and the view: Toorak Hill's 1860s villas rarely reach the portals. Both sit under the flight path, and Hamilton's flats below Kingsford Smith Drive flood.

Why is Clayfield not on the list?

It missed twelfth place by $16,000. Clayfield is a big suburb and the Wooloowin end sells for half of what the Bonney Avenue ridge does, which drags the median. The dearest home we have bought is in Clayfield, at $7,780,000.

What does $3 million buy in Bulimba or Hawthorne?

A renovated Queenslander on 600 to 800 square metres in Hawthorne, or a riverfront-adjacent home in Bulimba's grid. We have bought 42 homes across the two suburbs, 15 of them above $2 million, from $2.2 million to $5.05 million.

How do buyers find homes before they are advertised?

The selling agent decides who hears first, and they ring the buyers agents whose clients have finance in place and a record of settling. There is no trick to it beyond being that buyer. Of our 75 purchases above $2 million with a recorded method, about a third were off-market or pre-market; the rest were bought the ordinary way, with better preparation.

Ranking: PropTrack median house price for the twelve months September 2025 to August 2026, read from realestate.com.au suburb profiles on 1 October 2026, with a minimum of 20 house sales in the year. Change figures: Stash Property house median growth over one and five years to August 2026, which is listing-derived and can read a little under the settled-sale median. What we have bought: the Hunter Gather purchases record, counted live. Flood references are to the Brisbane City Council Flood Awareness Map and the 2011 and 2022 events; always run the FloodWise Property Report on the specific lot. Refreshed each spring.

Buying above $2 million? Jacob takes a handful of searches at a time.

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The record of what he has bought is at huntergather.com.au/prestige.