Clayfield is an upmarket suburb of Brisbane, located 7km north of Brisbane's CBD. It is known for its heritage homes, large blocks and tennis courts.
Clayfield originally in the 1880s was an original estate, which was thereby subdivided allotments. It gets its name from the fine white-grey sedimentary previously mined in Albion, which there we're 'clay fields' found in Clayfield.
For many years, Clayfield has been one of Brisbane's most affluent suburbs, developing into one of the top suburbs in the 1930s, close to when the well acclaimed Clayfield College opened.
Today, Clayfield houses priced at over $1.8 million, and is one of Brisbane's top 10 most expensive suburbs. Some homes in Clayfield have been known to sell for over $7M and capital price increases have been consistent in Clayfield for over 100 years.
Lifestyle
Clayfield has very large dwellings and is mostly compromised of family dwellings. Many residents enjoy the open space of their own backyards to enjoy relaxing and exercising within whether it be playing tennis or enjoying their pools.
Kalinga Park in the northern end of the suburb is one of the more popular parks where many residents go for walks and runs along Kedron Brook Creek.
Most residents in Clayfield enjoy the cafe and coffee culture of the suburb, often many of the local cafes in the street are very busy before work in the morning and on the weekends.
Clayfield residents lifestyle triangle is very strong. Often residents have a commute of less than 15 minutes from work, to school and lifestyle precincts.
School Zones
Eagle Junction State School is a primary public school in the suburb, and services many younger residents of the suburb. Eagle Junction also has a special education program for students of special needs.
St Agatha's Primary School is another school that serves students for a catholic education.
Aviation State High School serves the local catchment of Clayfield for public adolescent students. St Rita's Catholic College is a Catholic Secondary College for adolescent female students.
Many students in Clayfield attend private schools, due to the high median income and prestige of the families in the suburb. Clayfield College is the most common location for private school students to attend, which is a co-educational K-12 private school.
Students also attend St Margaret's Anglican School for Girls in neighbouring Ascot, Brisbane Girls Grammar and Brisbane Grammar Schools in nearby Spring Hill.
Demographics
Clayfield is one of Brisbane's most established suburbs, and it has been that way for close to 100 years. It has been a suburb where many of Brisbane's wealthy families have resided.
Despite that, median family household incomes have nearly doubled over the past 15 years, growing from $1,128 per week in 2006 to $2,119 in 2021.
It should be noted that many of Clayfield's wealthy residents have very healthy wealth stored in property, business and stock options.
Clayfield also has a fair presence of residents from India, China and Nepal. This is largely due to the proximity of great schools in the region.
Employment
Close to 50% of Clayfield's population are either professionals or managers. Many of these employees work within Healthcare, Law, IT and Administration roles.
A large proportion of the younger residents who reside in the apartments of the suburb, generally work within the cafes and restaurants. Many of these are within the CBD, Hendra or other nearby neighbourhoods.
Personal incomes in Clayfield are close to 50% higher than the state average. This figure for many of the wealthy residents is likely to be double the average, as many of the younger residents sit well below this mark.
Transport
Private transport is the most common form of transport for the vast majority of Clayfield's family based households. Commonly many have two or more vehicles and enjoy taking their kids, family members and friends to sporting or other events.
Clayfield was previously serviced by an electric tram line. Today, both Eagle Junction railway station and Clayfield Railway station serve the suburb, and run services towards the CBD, airport, Sandgate and Hamilton.
Buses can be commonly found throughout the suburb, particularly along the main roads of Sandgate Road, Junction Road and Oriel Road. Services run towards the CBD, airport and northern suburbs.
Shopping Centre's, Restaurants & Facilities
Clayfield is a fairly walkable suburb with a score of 69/100. This is largely due to the quiet family neighbourhood of many pockets of the suburb suiting families.
Clayfield is home to some of the highest heritage listings of any suburb in Australia, with over 60 heritage listings in the suburb. Many of these are homes, most notably Stanley Hall, Ralahyne, Lyndhurst, Turrawan and Tarranalma.
Sports are popular in Clayfield, most notably tennis due to the large component of tennis courts that lie in many original dwellings yards. Rugby Union is popular amongst many of the private school families. AFL, cricket, soccer and rugby league are also popular sports.
Royal Ascot Racing Track is only moments away from Clayfield in neighbouring Ascot and is an extremely popular place for young residents to go for events. The CBD and Fortitude Valley also serves a a popular location for many residents, especially for nightlife.
Clayfield is also home to many churches and has a fairly religious population for today. These include: Clayfield Baptist Church, Clayfield Gospel Hall, St Agatha's Catholic Church, St Mark's Anglican Church and Scots Presbyterian Church.
Many residents shop within Hendra's direct factory outlets that lie only 5 minutes away and go into the CBD for more department based stores.
There are a small number of gyms and fitness facilities that are within the suburb, however they mainly exist towards the stations along the main roads.
Development
Clayfield is a suburb of very different streetscape characteristics, depending on the location within the suburb.
Towards the northern end where the stations are, along Sandgate Road and Junction Road, the suburb is mostly compromised of townhouses and apartments, that make up close to 50% of the suburb.
In the pockets towards Ascot, Albion and Wooloowin, Clayfield is nearly entirely compromised of detached dwellings, with many on beautiful acreage blocks.
For developers, the best large scale development blocks exist within the northern end of the suburb close to the stations. High rise potential still exists in some of the streets here, though are extremely high in demand.
Towards the other pockets of the suburb, some double and triple blocks are present on the larger period home lots. Many of these do not turn over very often and have beautiful homes on the lots.
Renovations and redevelopments are common in this location with many beautiful new modern homes being built year by year.
Capital Growth
Clayfield is one of Brisbane's most consistent performers for houses in terms of capital growth, performing at close to 8.8% for the past 30 years.
Clayfield often does not see large falls even in down markets. In the 2008 global financial crisis, Clayfield had a fall of less than 5%, in comparison to some suburbs in outer Brisbane that experienced falls of over 40%.
Townhouses and units perform at 6% and 4% year on year. Townhouses at times may perform at closer to 7%, if they are in the right location. These are rare however, as much of Clayfield's best streets are solely low residentially zoned.
Cash Flow
Houses in Clayfield yield 3-3.2% which is very high for a suburb with homes sometimes achieving over $7M.
Townhouses and units yield close to 5%, largely due to the diminishing stock levels of the suburb.
Some homes in Clayfield rent for over $3,000 per week, some of the most expensive in Brisbane. Many of these are close to Ascot and St Margaret's Anglican School for Girls and are home to very wealthy families.
Rental Demand
Houses in Clayfield have vacancy rates generally close to 1.5%. Since the onset of COVID19, vacancy rates have been critically low averaging 0.7% with homes often being leased in less than 3 days.
Townhouses and Units average closer to 2% vacancy rates, which is very low for Brisbane. Many of the well located townhouses have average vacancy rates closer to houses.
It should be noted that rents rarely decrease in times of difficulty in Clayfield. During both the GFC and COVID19, rents in Clayfield for houses simply stagnated, but did not decrease. Many off the wealthier residents took great advantage of this and bought further into the market.
Why You Require a Buyers Agent in Clayfield
Clayfield is one of Brisbane's most upmarket suburbs, with homes being in demand from many of Australia's wealthiest residents.
Clayfield is also a hotspot for internationals who seek to buy into the Brisbane Market. It is a particularly common spot for international families to purchase, for the proximity to great schools and jobs.
Equity in the pockets of many local residents and neighbours in suburbs such as Hamilton, Ascot and Hendra is also another common presence. Many long term residents in these suburbs own multiple properties in this pocket of Brisbane.
Developers and renovators often can also be seen in Clayfield, competing for projects that at times can yield above 50% gross realization value returns.
Clayfield is a suburb of many notable residents, who do not transact with their homes on the market. Many of the best dwellings are sold completely off market, with very few people ever getting access.
Having a buyers agent in your corner of Clayfield will ensure that you are able to acquire the right property for the right price, ahead of all the competition. In a suburb where homes sell for above $2M regularly, this is hundreds of thousands of dollars in savings, and millions of dollars for years to come.
Why not seek Professional Advice from one of our Buyers Agents
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