Digital designer Clay McDonald, 38, has just sold his unit in Bowen Hills.
Digital designer Clay McDonald secured a larger city apartment for less, by widening his search just a few kilometres.
Mr McDonald, 38, bought a two-bedroom, two-bathroom unit in Bowen Hills for $425,000 in July last year, which he has just sold for $465,000.
The top-floor unit 3km from the CBD in the 2004-built Skyline Terrace building was marketed by Harcourts Connections agents, Tamara Gannon and Frances Charisma.
Bowen Hills was ranked among inner-city Brisbane’s affordable unit markets, where median prices have come back close to where they were in 2013.
Mr McDonald commuted to his Brisbane office from the Gold Coast before making the purchase.
PropTrack data shows a typical unit in the suburb costs $419,000, compared with $425 ten years ago.
A total 257 units have sold there this year, up from 193 in 2013.
Mr McDonald said had commuted from the Gold Coast to Brisbane to work for 14 years when he decided to make the move.
“I was originally looking at a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit in Southbank, West End, Milton areas, and I had probably been looking for a month when I stumbled across Bowen Hills and realised just being a little bit further out, I could get a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment for the same price,” he said.
The unit has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The kitchen has been upgraded.
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“Having that bigger space was great for me, as being used to living in a larger house on the Gold Coast then going to an apartment I didn’t want to feel claustrophic, and also being within walking distance to my workplace it was the perfect match.”
By comparison, median unit prices in West End were $610,00, and in South Bank, $541,000.
Mr McDonald said the investment brought benefits of an active commute to the office along with better work-life balance from less hours spent contending with traffic and public transport.
New carpets and blinds were added.
Convenient city living.
He carried out upgrades to the apartment including new carpets, blinds, light fittings and kitchen fixtures.
“The property had the original carpet when I bought it, and just lacked personality because it had been rented for so long.
“As well as making it more functional, I wanted to create a sense of home and give it that professional chic as a home of a designer.”
Mr McDonald said he planned to move to Brisbane’s northside.
“I will be back to commuting, but keeping it within 30 minutes.”
The post The inner-city Brisbane suburb where unit buyers are living large appeared first on realestate.com.au.