For Garrett and Vicky McDuling, the idea of home ownership in Brisbane has shifted from aspiration to urgency.
Both in their 40s, the couple are raising two children — Grace, 6, and Cooper, 15 — while working in essential frontline roles: Garrett as a school teacher, Vicky as a palliative care nurse.
They currently rent in Victoria Point, where the median house price now sits just above $1m, average weekly mortgage repayments are around $1,000, and house rents average $750 a week.
Garrett McDuling and kids, Grace, 6, and Cooper, 15, who are renting, but looking to buy, at home in Victoria Point. Photo: Steve Pohlner.
“It just feels like everything’s going up — except our wages,” Mr McDuling said. “Our salaries aren’t rising at the rate of living costs, and they’re definitely not keeping pace with rent.”
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Originally from Brisbane, the couple previously owned property in Perth, buying for around $700,000 — a home now valued close to $2m.
“The plan was always to come back to Brisbane,” Mr McDuling said. “But we didn’t know where we wanted to settle, so we rented in different areas to get a feel for it — places similar to what we’d had in Perth.”
That search included suburbs like Thornlands, but the experience quickly became financially unsustainable. “Every six months the rent just kept going up and up,” he said.
“At the last place, we were nearly paying $1,000 a week. Now we’re in a smaller house — downsizing deliberately — so we can try to save again.”
Garrett McDuling and kids, Grace, 6, and Cooper, 15, who are renting, but looking to buy. Photo: Steve Pohlner.
Covid-era relocations, the cost of moving, schooling expenses, and day-to-day living costs eroded what deposit they had managed to build. Renting became the only viable option — but not a comfortable one.
“We’re not like younger people who can live with family (while we save),” he said. “We can’t keep renting forever. We’re paying someone else’s mortgage instead of our own.”
The couple know that buying in Victoria Point is out of reach, so they’re now looking further afield, with suburbs like Redland Bay and Mount Cotton emerging as more realistic options.
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Their requirements are practical, not aspirational. “It has to be a house,” Mr McDuling said. “We know we won’t be able to afford a pool, but we want a bit of land, some scope to build or improve later. This has to be our forever home this time.”
Logistics also matter. Their son attends John Paul College, Garrett teaches in Cleveland, and stability is now the priority.
Their story reflects a broader shift playing out across Queensland. New analysis from comparison site Finder shows there are still around 300 suburbs across the state where it is cheaper to own a home than rent.
Lisa Evans, Verve Property buyer’s agent. Image supplied.
However, most of those areas are regional or rural, with only a small number of inner Brisbane suburbs now offering lower mortgage repayments than median rents.
At the same time, Brisbane’s median dwelling rent has climbed to a record $670 a week, according to PropTrack.
Buyer’s agent Lisa Evans from Vervé Property describes renting in Brisbane as “a perpetual tax on future wealth”.
Even after accounting for the ‘holding costs’ like rates and body corporate, Ms Evans said the net wealth of a homeowner in some suburbs was accelerating six figures ahead of a renter.
“For years, the safe advice in Brisbane was to ‘rent and wait’ for a market correction, but in 2026, that strategy has become an expensive mistake,” Ms Evans said.
“The real divide in Brisbane today isn’t between suburbs. It’s between those who own the title and those who fund it.
“In a market with a 0.7 per cent vacancy rate, ownership isn’t just a lifestyle choice, it’s a strategic hedge against a rental market that is effectively ‘inflation-proofing’ the landlords while pricing out the tenants.”
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