Brisbane to be major city within decade: Bernard Salt

Contact

May 4, 2017

Brisbane to be major city within decade: Bernard Salt

Demographer Bernard Salt says Brisbane will hit the "major metropolitan league with Sydney and Melbourne" within a decade.

Image: Tourism Australia.

Brisbane.

Demographer Bernard Salt, who infuriated millenials all over the country when he said they should stop eating expensive 'smashed avo on toast' if they want to save for a house, has come out in favour of Brisbane, which he says will hit the "major metropolitan league with Sydney and Melbourne" within a decade.

Salt has released a new report, Imagining Brisbane in 2027, which predicts the River City will experience a ‘transformative catch-up phase’ and join Sydney and Melbourne as one of Australia’s major hubs.

The changes within Brisbane will be economic, cultural, and social, said Salt.

The scale, culture and lifestyle present in Sydney and Melbourne today will be increasingly apparent in Brisbane, he said, adding the primacy of the southern cities will be lessened by "the rise of Brisbane".

Brisbane’s growth will be driven by significant population growth, immigration, and the rise of the knowledge or tertiary-educated workforce, according to the report.

Salt said the shifts will require Brisbane to increase its residential density within 3km of the CBD.

“Brisbane’s inner urban footprint is ripe for residential density,” he said.

“At the 2011 Census, almost one-third of dwellings within this zone were separate dwellings [in Brisbane], as compared with 9 per cent and 4 per cent in Melbourne and Sydney respectively," said Salt.

Salt said the rise of the knowledge industry, with communities such as West End, Fortitude Valley, and New Farm, would also create more demand for inner-city living.

The Boundary Street Precinct is a good example where of where development close to the city is already happening.

“The Boundary Street Precinct is more than a precinct, it’s a community that is transitioning from student enclave to knowledge worker community,” Salt said.

Mixed-use projects such as the $800 million West Village at West End and the $3 billion Queen’s Wharf in the CBD are being developed to meet the increased demand for inner-city living, as Brisbane embarks on a transformative decade.