Brisbane, 2011–2021: houses and townhouses on the fringe, apartments in the inner city

Brisbane grew by about a fifth between the 2011 and 2021 Censuses, at much the same rate as Melbourne and Perth over the decade, and faster than Sydney, Melbourne and Perth after 2016. More than half of that growth went to Ipswich, Logan and Moreton Bay on the city's edge, mostly into separate houses and townhouses, while the inner city added most of the apartments. A larger share of its growth was Australian-born than in any of the other four largest capitals, and a quarter of its houses are rented, at lower rents and on lower incomes than in Sydney or Melbourne.

Growth that picked up after 2016

Greater Brisbane grew by 22% over the decade, from 2.07 million to 2.53 million residents, which is about 460,000 extra people and matched Perth's rate, close to Melbourne's 23% and ahead of Sydney (19%) and Adelaide (13%). Its growth picked up between the two halves of the decade, from 9.9% between 2011 and 2016 to 11.2% between 2016 and 2021, when Sydney grew by 8.4%, Melbourne by 9.6% and Perth by 8.9%. On Censible's projections Brisbane reaches about 2.81 million residents in 2026 and 2.97 million in 2031.

Greater Brisbane is the ABS's capital city area, which takes in Logan, Ipswich, Moreton Bay and Redland but not the Gold Coast or the Sunshine Coast. Those two areas had about 1.04 million residents between them in 2021 and added about 225,000 over the decade, so south-east Queensland as a whole grew by about 685,000.

Most of the growth on the fringe

Ipswich, Logan – Beaudesert and the two Moreton Bay areas held 46% of Brisbane's residents in 2011 and took 55% of its growth, about 254,000 people, growing by 27% while the rest of the city grew by 19%. Ipswich added about 85,000 residents and Logan – Beaudesert about 69,000, the largest increases of the city's nine SA4s, the ABS's largest statistical areas, and Censible's projections add about 271,000 more residents to the four areas between 2021 and 2031, which would be 61% of the city's projected growth, with Logan – Beaudesert alone adding about 100,000.

These areas grew mostly in houses. Of the roughly 90,000 occupied dwellings they added, which was half of Brisbane's total, almost three-quarters were separate houses and the rest were townhouses or semi-detached houses, while the number of apartments fell slightly. In 2021, 21% of their residents were under 15 against 19% across the city, households averaged 2.7 people against 2.6, and the median household income was $1,634 a week against $1,864, so the demand these areas add comes mostly from larger households in houses and townhouses.

Apartments in the inner city

Brisbane Inner City grew by 30%, from about 224,000 to 292,000 residents, and took 15% of the city's growth. Flats and apartments rose from 45% to 58% of its occupied dwellings, and about 93% of the dwellings it added were apartments, which is about two-thirds of all the apartments Brisbane added over the decade. Across the whole city apartments rose from 12% to 15% of occupied dwellings and made up about 27% of the homes added, against 55% in Sydney and 16% in Melbourne.

In 2021, 53% of inner-city households rented and 47% of adults held a bachelor degree or higher, against 36% and 27% across the city. Households averaged 2.2 people and 13% of residents were under 15, and the median household income of $2,163 a week was the second highest of the nine SA4s, after Brisbane – West at $2,337.

Renting in houses

In 2021, 35.5% of Brisbane's households rented, close to Sydney's 36.4% and well above Melbourne's 30.5%, though apartments make up 15% of Brisbane's homes against 31% of Sydney's. A quarter of Brisbane's occupied separate houses were rented, and 28% on the fringe, against about a fifth in each of the other four capitals, and rented houses accounted for about half of the city's renting households, against about a third in Sydney and 45% in Melbourne.

Who is moving in

Fewer of Brisbane's residents were born overseas than in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth: 28.5% in 2021, against 40.5% in Sydney, 37.7% in Perth and 37.3% in Melbourne, and about the same as Adelaide's 28.6%. Among residents who stated a birthplace, people born in Australia accounted for about 61% of Brisbane's growth between 2011 and 2021, the highest share of the five largest capitals, against 46% in Melbourne and 40% in Sydney. The census counts used here don't separate children born in Brisbane from people who moved there from other states.

New Zealand is Brisbane's largest overseas birthplace, at about 111,000 people or 4.6% of residents in 2021, more than two and a half times its share in Sydney or Melbourne and ahead of England at 3.9%. Its share has fallen slightly since 2011, when it was 5.1%, while the India-born population more than doubled, from about 22,000 to 51,000, and the China-born population almost doubled, from about 21,000 to 41,000.

These groups have settled in different parts of the city. About 59% of Brisbane's New Zealand-born residents live in the four fringe areas, which hold 48% of its population, and they make up 7.4% of residents in Logan – Beaudesert, where 0.7% were born in Samoa against 0.3% across the city. Brisbane – South, which includes Sunnybank and Mount Gravatt, holds over half of the city's China-born residents, and 9.7% of its residents use Mandarin at home against 2.6% across Brisbane.

Lower incomes and lower housing costs

Brisbane's median weekly household income rose 34% over the decade to $1,864, which is $232 a week below Sydney's and $56 below Melbourne's, and of the five largest capitals only Perth's grew more slowly. The median rent rose 16% to $381 a week, slightly below Melbourne's $388, and the median mortgage repayment was 6% lower in 2021 than in 2011, at $1,883 a month.

Measured against income, the median rent equals about 20% of the median household income, level with Melbourne and Adelaide and below Sydney's 23%, and the median mortgage repayment about 23%, level with Adelaide and against 24% in Perth and Melbourne and 27% in Sydney. Censible's figures for 2026, which move rents forward with the CPI rents series and incomes with the ABS wage price index, put the median rent at about $484 a week and the median household income at about $2,197, which would raise the rent's share of income to about 22%, and both remain projections until the 2026 Census results arrive.

A younger city with fewer graduates

Brisbane had the youngest population of the five largest capitals in 2021, with a median age of 36.9 against 37.2 in Melbourne and 37.4 in Sydney, and the largest share of children, with 19.2% of residents under 15. The share of adults holding a bachelor degree or higher rose from 20% in 2011 to 27%, below Sydney's and Melbourne's 33% and level with Perth, and 25% of employed residents worked as professionals, against 30% in Sydney and 27% in Melbourne. The 2021 Census was taken during lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, so comparisons of work figures with those two cities are less reliable than the other comparisons here.

What to watch in the 2026 Census

Four questions will decide whether this picture holds. Did the fringe keep taking more than half of the city's growth after 2021, as Censible's projections expect? Did apartments spread beyond the inner city? Did the Australian-born share of growth hold once overseas migration resumed after the borders reopened? And did rents rise faster than incomes? The first 2026 Census results arrive in June 2027, and the 2026 and 2031 Censuses will record the city in the years before it hosts the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Method

Figures are for Greater Brisbane and the other Greater Capital City Statistical Areas from the 2011, 2016 and 2021 Censuses, carried onto the ABS's 2026 boundaries with ABS correspondences so each city is compared on the same ground. The fringe is the Ipswich, Logan – Beaudesert, Moreton Bay – North and Moreton Bay – South SA4s, and the inner city is the Brisbane Inner City SA4. SA4s are the ABS's largest statistical areas within a city, usually with 100,000 to 500,000 residents each, and Greater Brisbane has nine; figures for the fringe are calculated from summed counts. The shares of added homes by type compare counts of occupied private dwellings by structure in 2011 and 2021, and the Australian-born share of growth compares counts of residents who stated a birthplace. The south-east Queensland figure adds the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast SA4s to Greater Brisbane. Population projections grow census counts with ABS estimates and Geoscience Australia projections, and the 2026 rent and income figures are moved forward with the CPI rents series and the ABS wage price index. More on the method is on Data and sources.

Limitations

The 2021 Census was taken with international borders closed, which lowered counts of international students and temporary residents in every city, and during lockdowns in Sydney and Melbourne, which affected their employment and occupation figures.

Dollar figures are nominal, and comparisons of housing costs with incomes use each city's medians rather than individual households' circumstances.

Several of the areas used here, including Logan – Beaudesert and Moreton Bay – North, had boundary changes between editions, so their 2011 figures are estimates.

The dwelling figures count occupied dwellings, so homes that were empty on Census night are left out. In some capitals the counts of townhouses and flats shift between 2011 and 2016 in ways that don't match what was built; Brisbane's series is steadier, but the split of added homes between apartments and townhouses is less certain than the count of separate houses.

The census shows where people live and who they are but doesn't record why they moved or where they lived before, and statements about what the figures mean for businesses are interpretation.

Figures for 2026 and 2031 are projections, and the 2026 ones will be replaced by census counts as the ABS releases the 2026 results from June 2027.