Brisbane investors racing the clock before Olympic construction crunch intensifies

In the lead-up to the 2032 Olympic Games, Brisbane’s property market may be entering one of its most important phases.

A new Colliers report warns that a narrowing development window, worsening housing shortages and rising construction constraints are creating a fundamentally different investment environment.

While much of the national property conversation has focused on slowing growth conditions in Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane continues to experience strong demand underpinned by population growth, infrastructure investment and critically low housing supply.

But according to Colliers, the real pressure point may still lie ahead.

The agency’s new Brisbane 2032 report argues the years before 2027 represent a crucial opportunity period for residential developers and investors before Olympic-related construction activity absorbs more labour, materials and building capacity across South East Queensland.

“A key residential development window is unfolding,” the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Creating Solutions report states.

Olympic pipeline set to intensify construction pressures

Colliers research shows Queensland’s construction pipeline has more than doubled over the past five years and is forecast to average $69 billion annually, peaking at $75 billion in 2027-28 as Olympic and infrastructure works intensify.

At the same time, workforce demand is expected to rise from 126,600 workers in 2025-26 to 148,300 by 2027-28, with the state forecast to face annual labour shortfalls of about 19,100 workers and a potential peak gap of 35,000 workers.

For Brisbane’s housing market, the implications could be significant.

Colliers warns that from 2027 onward, labour will increasingly be redirected toward major public infrastructure projects, placing further upward pressure on construction costs while making high-density residential projects harder to deliver.

That comes as housing demand across South East Queensland continues to accelerate.

Brisbane vacancy rates remain below 1.5 per cent, while strong interstate migration and population growth continue to tighten already constrained supply conditions.

According to the report, Greater Brisbane is expected to require about 40,000 additional apartments and flats between 2021 and 2031 based on projected population growth and current housing composition trends.

Yet delivering that supply is becoming increasingly difficult.

The Brisbane Showgrounds athletes’ village will help, delivering more than 10,500 beds before eventually converting into approximately 1,750 to 2,000 apartments after the Games, absorbing substantial labour and materials during construction.

The broader Olympic venue and village pipeline represents about $11.2 billion in construction activity across South East Queensland through to 2032.

Simon Beirne, State Chief Executive Queensland at Colliers, said Brisbane’s property market was still in the early stages of a longer-term Olympic expansion cycle.

“As we saw in other Olympic cities, the largest surge in demand does not occur when infrastructure begins, it occurs later, as operational requirements ramp up and the full scale of the event comes into focus,” Mr Beirne said.

“This creates a rare opportunity for investors, developers and businesses able to establish themselves before constraints intensify.”

Housing affordability pressures deepen

The growing supply challenge is already visible across the broader housing market.

RPM Group’s April 2026 South East Queensland Greenfield Market Report found median land prices across the region have now surpassed $500,000 for the first time, rising 26 per cent over the past year and 86 per cent since March 2022.

Combined with average build costs now exceeding $500,000, a typical house-and-land package across Greater Brisbane now sits at about $1.01 million.

Clinton Trezise, Managing Director Queensland and New South Wales at RPM Group, said affordability pressures were increasingly reshaping buyer behaviour.

“The greenfield sector used to be the great equaliser. It was how average households got their foot in the door,” Mr Trezise said.

“That door is still open, but the step up is getting too high.”

RPM found some key growth corridors were holding less than one month of available land supply, while established housing listings across Brisbane also remain well below long-term averages.

Queensland added more than 97,000 residents in the year to September 2025, further intensifying competition for housing.

Rather than retreating from the market, many buyers are adapting by purchasing smaller lots, moving further from the CBD or stretching household budgets more aggressively.

Median lot sizes across growth corridors, including Moreton Bay and Logan, are now sitting at or below 400 square metres as affordability pressures intensify.

“Buyers are still finding a way in,” Mr Trezise said. “But they’re having to go further out, buy smaller, and stretch harder than any point in recent history.”

Governments are well aware of the issues and the Commonwealth and Queensland Governments on Tuesday (18 May) announced a deal to deliver more than 51,000 homes, including more than 20,000 exclusively for first home buyers.

The deal is a step towards delivering the Commonwealth Government’s aim to help build 100,000 homes for first home buyers, in partnership with state governments and industry, as well as the Queensland Government delivering 1 million homes by 2044.

The Australian Government will provide $2 billion in support, comprising $399 million in grants and $1.6 billion in zero-interest concessional loans, for enabling infrastructure. The Queensland Government will provide a matched contribution of $399 million.

Investors continue targeting Brisbane fundamentals

For investors, those supply constraints are continuing to support Brisbane’s real estate market.

Lauren Jones, Director, Lauren Jones Buyers Agency, said conditions on the ground remained highly competitive despite broader economic uncertainty and softer sentiment in some southern markets.

“Entry-level homes and properties with strong fundamentals are still moving fast,” Ms Jones said.

“It highlights how important it is to purchase assets that don’t rely on peak demand to perform and can weather tougher market conditions.”

Ms Jones said tight rental conditions were continuing to underpin investor demand across the city.

“In simple terms, if you own a rental in Brisbane, it will rent,” she said.

Vacancy rates across Brisbane are currently sitting around 0.9 per cent, while rents have continued rising annually.

At the same time, Ms Jones said a notable shift is emerging on the supply side. Selling agents are becoming increasingly motivated, with repeated outreach and a rise in pre-market and off-market opportunities.

“Our team is seeing the same properties being circulated multiple times, and we’re receiving direct, unprovoked calls from agents offering access before listings go live,” Ms Jones said.

“That level of proactivity from agents hasn’t been as common in tighter conditions.”

A narrowing opportunity window

The broader theme emerging from both the Colliers and RPM research is that Brisbane’s market is increasingly being shaped by structural undersupply rather than short-term market sentiment.

Unlike previous cycles, higher interest rates have so far failed to materially loosen conditions because population growth, low listings and constrained construction capacity continue to outweigh affordability pressures.

For developers and investors alike, the years before Olympic construction demand peaks may prove decisive.

And according to Colliers, that window is already narrowing.