The property markets in Sydney and Melbourne have seen excellent growth in the past 18 months, but 2015 could be Brisbane’s time to shine, said Ben Kingsley, CEO of Empower Wealth and winner of Your Investment Property’s Investment Advisor of the Year.

“I suspect we are going to see Queensland having a fairly good time of it in 2015 and I think Melbourne and Sydney starting to cool off a bit from the heights they were at,” said Kingsley.

“So in the 2001-2003 years, we saw some excellent growth in Melbourne and Sydney and then Brisbane sort of followed in 2003-2004. I suspect we will see a bit of that happening as well.”

Kingsley adds that if he was buying in the Sydney or Melbourne market at the moment, he would be very selective about what he’s looking at and probably wouldn’t be purchasing in the higher top 25% median value, because those levels are likely to come off in the next 12 months.

“If you are buying from an investment point of view and let’s say the median value of an area is $500,000 and you have gone and bought a $750,000 investment property, you might see some correction or softening of value and certainly some lower returns over a period of time, before the next uplift comes through,” said Kingsley

“My advice for anyone who is looking to invest in property is to try and keep around that median price range rather than expose themselves to a bit of a correction once the market softens and interest rates go higher.”

Kingsley also suspects we are going to see an uplift in terms of first home buyers coming to the market in the next 18 months. For the investor market, he believes there could be a bit of cooling, as interest rates look to go up in the second half of 2015. 

For more essential insights from Ben Kingsley, click here to view the interview in full.