{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-blog-js","path":"/news/buy-off-the-plan-now-or-wait-for-the-market","result":{"data":{"news":{"image":{"gatsbyImageData":{"images":{"sources":[],"fallback":{"src":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1700800699-dsc08764.jpg?auto=format&w=2480","srcSet":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1700800699-dsc08764.jpg?auto=format&dpr=0.25&w=2480 620w,\nhttps://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1700800699-dsc08764.jpg?auto=format&dpr=0.5&w=2480 1240w,\nhttps://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1700800699-dsc08764.jpg?auto=format&w=2480 2480w","sizes":"(min-width: 2480px) 2480px, 100vw"}},"layout":"constrained","placeholder":{"fallback":"data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQAAAQABAAD/2wCEAAoHBwgHBgoICAgLFRULDhgQDQ0WDhcNDg0NFx8ZGBYTFhUaHysjGh0oHRUWJDUlKC0vMjIyGSI4PTcwPCsxMi8BCgsLDg0OHBAQFS8cIh01Ly8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vLy8vL//AABEIABAAGAMBIgACEQEDEQH/xAAYAAACAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFBgADBP/EAB0QAAEEAgMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAEAAgQFAxEGIUH/xAAVAQEBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACAf/EABcRAQEBAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIAARH/2gAMAwEAAhEDEQA/AL8V1liVWnLbHvQ+qLyUomWZ1X0ikSvyGjJ34odPKoRccja6CWgqJYZFfjjHZUQ1nssF/9k="},"width":2480,"height":1653},"alt":"News Broadcasters amongst Crowd"}},"blog":{"id":"DatoCmsBlog-OnSt9b-8SDuN7i2q79VXsQ-en","date":"24/09/2026","info":"Should I Buy Off the Plan Now or Wait for the Market to Settle?","slug":"buy-off-the-plan-now-or-wait-for-the-market","authorName":"Brent Thompson","authorType":"Person","meta":{"updatedAt":"2026-09-28T06:54:56.274+01:00"},"seo":{"title":"Buy Off the Plan Now or Wait for the Market? | SIERA","description":"Why a quieter property market does not make it cheaper to build your next home, and what to test in your own numbers before you decide to wait.","image":null},"image":{"url":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1766457330-tapestry-december.jpg?auto=format","gatsbyImageData":{"images":{"sources":[],"fallback":{"src":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1766457330-tapestry-december.jpg?auto=format&w=4024","srcSet":"https://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1766457330-tapestry-december.jpg?auto=format&dpr=0.25&w=4024 1006w,\nhttps://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1766457330-tapestry-december.jpg?auto=format&dpr=0.5&w=4024 2012w,\nhttps://www.datocms-assets.com/58491/1766457330-tapestry-december.jpg?auto=format&w=4024 4024w","sizes":"(min-width: 4024px) 4024px, 100vw"}},"layout":"constrained","placeholder":{"fallback":"data:image/jpg;base64,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"},"width":4024,"height":3016},"alt":"The Tapestry apartment building under construction on Chevron Island, scaffolding in place against the Gold Coast skyline"},"contentBlocks":[{"id":"DatoCmsContent-JgKZxwdzTkCzgtOXYpgVAw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## **What a quieter market does, and does not, do to the cost of creating your next home.**"},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-evii8HXHQVK0k8R38KSGLg-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"*Education Series | SIERA Thought Leadership. By Brent Thompson, Founder and Managing Director, SIERA*\n\n***"},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-SicJwBbTTZ2fWn0LUN4CXw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"Buying off the plan can make a lot of sense when you have found the home you want, even if you are not ready to leave the home you have. It can give you time to prepare for the move while agreeing today on the price and inclusions of your next residence.\n\nIf you are worried about where house prices are heading, waiting can feel like the sensible thing to do. You might be quite happy where you are for another year or two. You might want to move eventually, but the thought of selling, packing up and making a major financial decision all at once is enough to put it off.\n\nI think there is something worth understanding before you decide to wait. The mood of the property market and the cost of creating your next home can move in different directions. A quieter market does not automatically make it cheaper to buy the land, engage the trades and build the same residence with the same space, amenity and finishes.\n\nThat is why I believe buying the right home off the plan deserves serious consideration in an uncertain market. You can make the decision about your next home now and use the construction period to prepare for living there. The opportunity is to secure an offering that may be more expensive to reproduce by the time you move in. That is what I mean when I talk about a discount on the future: the price you agree today, set against what an equivalent home may cost to create later.\n\nThis is an argument, not a guide, and I have set out below what would have to be true for it to hold."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-R82dmE2TTJyt8A7CZ0ftSw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## Where to Spend Your Attention\n\nThere are three separate things to weigh here, and they do not carry the same weight. I have sorted them that way, so you know which one to settle first.\n\n**Routine.** Whether the home itself suits you. The location, the floor plan, the amenity and the way you want to live. If this is not right, nothing else in this article matters.\n\n**Worth checking carefully.** What the price actually includes, the record of the people delivering it, and your own numbers tested against a lower sale price for your current home and a lower valuation at settlement.\n\n**Act promptly.** Once you are in a contract, anything carrying a deadline. A further disclosure or variation notice, a settlement notice, or any change in your finance or the sale of your existing home. Send it to your solicitor the day it arrives."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-KO6VwUKkSRiiHxbh3p3AWw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## The Home Is the Starting Point\n\nThe first question is whether you actually want to live there. The location needs to work for you. The floor plan, space, amenity, security and finishes need to suit how you want to live, and you need confidence in the people responsible for delivering what you are being shown. If those boxes are not ticked, future price growth is irrelevant.\n\nThink about the things you would use every week. Is there room for your dining table and for family to stay? Can you walk to the places you enjoy? Will the home give you more freedom to travel, spend time with friends or simply have a weekend without a list of maintenance jobs?\n\nOnce you have found that home, the decision about waiting becomes much more specific. You are weighing up the home available to you now against what an equivalent home might cost, and what it might include, when you are ready to look again."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-GlSGmjFqRD-0rQhPhVo4wQ-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## What the Construction Evidence Tells Us\n\nThe Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that building construction output prices across Australia rose 4.9 per cent in the year to June 2026. That is a broad national measure covering several types of building, but it shows that construction prices were still rising. [\\[1\\]](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/producer-price-indexes-australia/jun-2026)\n\nLooking ahead, Altus Group's August 2026 outlook forecasts Brisbane construction cost escalation of 9 per cent in 2026 and a further 8 per cent in 2027. Across those two full years, that compounds to almost 18 per cent if the forecasts are realised. Altus identifies Olympic-related work, labour shortages and supply chain pressures as reasons for Brisbane's higher forecast. [\\[2\\]](https://www.altusgroup.com/insights/australian-construction-price-outlook-q2-2026/)\n\nThese are Brisbane construction forecasts. They do not predict an 18 per cent increase in the value of a Gold Coast residence, and they do not tell us what a particular home will sell for at completion. They point to a higher cost of delivering an equivalent home in the future, and that is why the price you can secure today matters.\n\n### Cost Is Only One Side of It\n\nI want to be straight about that, because it is the first objection a careful reader will raise. Price is set by what it costs to deliver a home and by how many people want one. If demand disappeared altogether, a higher construction cost would not push prices up. It would simply mean that very little new gets built, because a project only proceeds when the finished homes can be sold for more than they cost to create.\n\nWhat we are seeing is both at once. The cost of delivery keeps climbing, and people keep looking for well located homes that suit the way they want to live. It is that combination, not construction cost on its own, that makes the price you can agree today worth thinking about. If you believe demand for good homes in good locations is about to disappear, the argument in this article does not hold, and you should wait.\n\nA project can absorb some cost escalation, but there is a limit to how much it can carry and still be viable. At SIERA, we have never passed construction cost increases onto buyers under existing contracts. For someone still looking to buy, the longer-term consequence is what can be offered within their budget. As costs rise, a project may need to change the homes it offers, target a different price point or remain unbuilt because the numbers no longer work.\n\nWe have seen this on the Gold Coast, with a shift away from smaller residences aimed at the rental market towards larger beachfront homes at higher price points. In my experience, that shift reflects the difficulty of making projects viable at lower selling prices. For a buyer, the consequence can be more significant than a higher price for the same home. The type of home they want, within the budget they have, may become harder to find because fewer projects can afford to deliver it."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-SjkUmXP5TfOv3cK36LRMWg-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## Look Closely at What the Price Includes\n\nSpace, usable amenity and the quality of the finishes are part of what you are choosing. If a future project has to work within a particular selling price, one response to higher costs could be a smaller residence, less amenity or simpler finishes. That is a commercial possibility, rather than a prediction that every future building will offer less.\n\nFor the buyer, it means comparing the whole home. A two-bedroom residence that fits your furniture, gives you room to entertain and includes the storage you need is not the same proposition as another two-bedroom residence that does not.\n\nThe realestate.com.au and GemLife Downsizing Australia Report found that 23 per cent of those who had considered downsizing had not found a smaller home that suited their needs. That finding comes from the 2025 Property Seeker Survey. It is a useful reminder that finding the right home can be a significant part of the decision. [\\[3\\]](https://www.realestate.com.au/insights/realestate-com-au-gemlife-downsizing-australia-report/)\n\nWhen you have found somewhere that fits, there is value in knowing exactly what you are choosing. The plans, inclusions and contract should make that clear, so you can assess the actual residence rather than rely on a broad description or an artist's impression."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-TeRfJixUTvCedqP1gDhopw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## You Can Give Yourself Time to Make the Move\n\nOne of the things I like about buying off the plan is the time it can give people to prepare. Depending on the stage of the project, your finances and the contract, you may be able to pay the required deposit and continue living in your current home while construction progresses.\n\nYou can speak with selling agents, work through what needs doing at home and decide what you want to take with you. You can pass things on to family, measure furniture and spend time in the neighbourhood you are moving to. There is room to begin looking forward to the change while you are still living somewhere familiar.\n\nYou do not necessarily have to put your house on the market the moment you sign. The timing needs to work backwards from your settlement obligations, with enough room for the sale and any delays. Your solicitor and financial adviser can help you work through that before you commit.\n\nBuying off the plan is still a major decision at the outset. You are entering a contract, and you need a credible plan to complete the purchase. Construction dates can change, and the value of your existing home can change as well. The time available is useful preparation time; it cannot promise that the market will have recovered when you need to sell. [\\[4\\]](https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/advice-buying-home/ways-to-buy-your-home/buying-off-the-plan)\n\nIf you are moving from a family home, our [guide for retirees and downsizers](https://sieragroup.com.au/news/off-the-plan-apartments-for-retirees-and-downsizers/) looks at the lifestyle, practical and financial questions to consider."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-anP64fXNR--j869eBFpBvg-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## What I Mean by a Discount on the Future\n\nIf you agree on a price today and an equivalent new home costs more to deliver and buy later, you can benefit from having made the decision earlier. That is the opportunity I see when I talk about buying yourself time and a discount on the future.\n\nIt depends on the price you agree to, what the contract protects, whether the project is delivered and what happens in the market. Replacement cost is the cost of creating an equivalent home. Market value is what a buyer will pay for yours at a particular time. The two are related, but a higher replacement cost does not guarantee a higher valuation at settlement.\n\nThe financial plan needs to work without relying on that gain. If selling your current home is part of the plan, test the numbers using a lower sale price as well as the price you hope to achieve. Allow for selling and moving costs, duty, professional fees and any period of overlap. If you need finance, ask your lender or broker what happens if the finished residence values below the contract price or your borrowing capacity changes.\n\nOnce you know you can complete the move comfortably under those conditions, the potential benefit of choosing early becomes something you can assess with much more confidence."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-RYa0H-MJS9GAG9ei_ogZuQ-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## The People Delivering the Home Matter\n\nThe cost argument only helps if the residence you have chosen can be delivered on terms you understand. Ask who is building it, how construction will be funded, what has been committed and what still needs to happen. Visit completed projects and look at the homes people are living in now.\n\nAt SIERA, we are both the developer and the builder. Managing the design, construction costs and delivery of the homes we sell is our responsibility. For buyers, the important question is whether they have confidence in our ability to deliver the home they have chosen.\n\nYour own solicitor should explain the price provisions, inclusions, variation rights and settlement requirements. Get that advice before signing, so the time you are giving yourself rests on a commitment you understand. [\\[4\\]](https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/advice-buying-home/ways-to-buy-your-home/buying-off-the-plan)\n\nFor a practical checklist covering the developer, builder, contract and purchase process, read our [Queensland off-the-plan buying guide](https://sieragroup.com.au/news/buying-off-the-plan-in-brisbane-the-gold-coast-a-guide-for-discerning-buyers/)."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-XYfg4-iSTNiWrcDgm9snCw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## Making the Decision About Your Next Home\n\nI would start with the home you want and the life you can see yourself living there. Then I would work through the price, the people, the documents and the money needed to make the move comfortably.\n\nWhen those things line up, I believe there is a strong case for buying off the plan. You can choose your next home, give yourself time to prepare and secure today's offering before the cost of reproducing it moves further away.\n\nFor someone who wants to move but does not want to turn their life upside down immediately, that can be a very good outcome. You can keep enjoying the home you have while making a considered plan for the one you want next."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-KoTylKWIRYmCQuIiomqZdA-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## Questions Buyers Ask\n\n### Do I have to sell my house as soon as I buy off the plan?\n\nNot necessarily. It depends on your deposit resources, finance, the project's stage and the contract. Plan the sale around your settlement obligations and leave room for changes in timing.\n\n### Will rising construction costs make my residence worth more?\n\nRising construction costs mean that building the same home in the future will cost more. That does not guarantee someone will be willing to pay the price needed to deliver it. If the numbers no longer work, that home may not get built, or something different may be built instead.\n\n### Does this argument depend on demand staying strong?\n\nYes, in part. Cost sets the floor under what a new home can be delivered for, and demand determines whether it gets built and sold at all. If demand for well located homes fell away entirely, higher construction costs would reduce new supply rather than lift prices. The case for choosing early rests on both pressures existing at the same time.\n\n### Is buying off the plan always cheaper than waiting?\n\nNo. The opportunity depends on the particular home, its price and terms, delivery, and future market conditions. Compare the full offering and make sure your finances work even if values fall.\n\n### What should I check before deciding to buy now?\n\nConfirm that the home suits you, understand the delivery and funding position, have your solicitor review the complete contract and test the finances for a lower sale price, valuation changes and delays. Those checks help you decide whether the benefits of choosing early make sense for you."},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-SQjwpunHQKyBbNI-cQSXNw-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"## Sources\n\n[1]  Australian Bureau of Statistics, Producer Price Indexes, Australia, June 2026, released 31 July 2026. Building construction output prices: [abs.gov.au](https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/producer-price-indexes-australia/jun-2026)\n\n[2]  Altus Group, Australian Construction Price Outlook Q2 2026, updated 27 August 2026. Figure 1, Brisbane forecasts: [altusgroup.com](https://www.altusgroup.com/insights/australian-construction-price-outlook-q2-2026/)\n\n[3]  realestate.com.au and GemLife, Downsizing Australia Report. Printed page 13, barriers to downsizing, Property Seeker Survey 2025: [realestate.com.au](https://www.realestate.com.au/insights/realestate-com-au-gemlife-downsizing-australia-report/)\n\n[4]  Queensland Government, Buying off the plan, updated 13 April 2026. General contract, market and timing risks. Contract-specific advice is required: [qld.gov.au](https://www.qld.gov.au/housing/buying-owning-home/advice-buying-home/ways-to-buy-your-home/buying-off-the-plan)\n\n***"},{"id":"DatoCmsContent-GzOHhcV8SfeeJel_bITH2g-en","__typename":"DatoCmsContent","content":"**Brent Thompson**\n\nFounder and Managing Director, SIERA\n\n[sieragroup.com.au](https://sieragroup.com.au)\n\n*This article is part of SIERA's Education Series. Written by Brent Thompson, Founder and Managing Director of SIERA. It is general information only and does not take account of your circumstances. Obtain advice from your own Queensland property solicitor and financial adviser about your contract and your situation before signing or paying money.*"}]}},"pageContext":{"id":"DatoCmsBlog-OnSt9b-8SDuN7i2q79VXsQ-en"}},"staticQueryHashes":["2688950928","884449362","905230009"]}