Episode 2 · Property Types & Supply Dynamics
Brisbane Houses: Size, Age, Ownership and Tax Bills
Brisbane is a small city of mostly older houses on small lots, set between San Bruno Mountain and the bay. This page shows what the houses are made of, how long owners keep them, who owns them, and why a county tax value tells you more about when a house was bought than about the house.
đź’ˇ Key Insights & Takeaways
- Brisbane has 1,027 single-family houses, which is 59.3% of its 1,733 residential parcels as of 20 October 2026.
- The median house has 1,480 square feet of living area on a median lot of 4,866 square feet, and 40.2% of lots are under 4,000 square feet.
- The median house was built in 1950, and the 1930s alone built 34.3% of the houses.
- The median house has been held 13.3 years, and 33.9% of the houses with a sale date have been held more than 20 years.
- The screen for houses that could be rebuilt flags 182 houses, or 17.7%, and that count is a ceiling, not a forecast.
If you are deciding what a Brisbane house costs to hold, start here: two houses of about the same size are assessed 2.32 times apart, $1,257,400 for those bought in the last five years and $542,440 for those held 20 years or more, as of 20 October 2026. The year of purchase explains the gap.
At a glance
Table: Brisbane single-family houses at a glance, as of 20 October 2026.
| Measure | Value | Houses counted |
|---|---|---|
| Single-family houses | 1,027 | 1,733 residential parcels |
| Median living area | 1,480 square feet | 1,005 |
| Median year built | 1950 | 1,004 |
| Median time held | 13.3 years | 791 |
| Median annual property tax bill | $9,059 | 1,027 |
What kinds of homes does Brisbane have?
Brisbane has 1,027 single-family houses among 1,733 residential parcels, a share of 59.3% as of 20 October 2026. A parcel is one lot of land as the county files it, so this counts lots and not homes. Single-family here means the county's filing class. The county does not mark a house as detached or attached.
Another 59 of the houses, or 5.7% of them, carry the county's class for a house with an accessory dwelling unit, which is a second small home on the same lot. Condominiums come to 359 parcels, or 20.7%, and this page covers houses only. Vacant lots, which are lots with no building on them as the county files them, are the other large group.
Table: Brisbane residential parcels by county class, as of 20 October 2026.
| County class | Parcels |
|---|---|
| Single-family house (including 59 with an accessory unit) | 1,027 |
| Condominium | 359 |
| Vacant lot | 236 |
| Multi-family | 109 |
| Mobile or manufactured home (anecdotal, 2 parcels) | 2 |
| All residential parcels | 1,733 |
How big are Brisbane houses and lots?
The median Brisbane house has 1,480 square feet of living area (1,005 houses counted) on a median lot of 4,866 square feet (1,027 houses counted), as of 20 October 2026. Small lots are common, because 40.2% of lots are under 4,000 square feet. The typical house has floor area equal to 0.337 of its lot area, so most lots keep open ground around the house.
The living area comes from the county's own measure. A measure from a sale listing often differs, so the medians on this page will not match a median from sales.
Most houses are plain in layout. The median house has 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms (1,009 houses counted), and 59.4% of houses have one storey while 40.6% have two or more (1,004 houses counted). If you want a single level, about 3 houses in 5 qualify.
Table: The typical Brisbane single-family house, as of 20 October 2026.
| Measure | Value | Houses counted |
|---|---|---|
| Median living area | 1,480 square feet | 1,005 |
| Median lot | 4,866 square feet | 1,027 |
| Lots under 4,000 square feet | 40.2% | 1,027 |
| Floor area as a share of lot area (median) | 0.337 | 1,005 |
| Median bedrooms | 3 | 1,009 |
| One-storey houses | 59.4% | 1,004 |
How old are Brisbane houses, and how many have been renovated?
The median Brisbane house was built in 1950 (1,004 houses counted, as of 20 October 2026), and 49.3% of the houses went up before 1950. One decade did a lot of the work: the 1930s alone built 34.3% of the houses. Only 16.6% date from 2000 or later. When you tour, ask what has been replaced inside, because the age on paper and the age of the kitchen can differ.
A house shows a renovation when the county's effective year, a date the county writes down rather than a description of the work, is later than the year the house was built. Among the 642 houses that have an effective year on record, 48.8% show a renovation, a median of 15.0 years after the original build (313 houses counted). Counted against all 1,027 houses, the renovation share is at least 30.5%.
This count has a limit that you should keep in mind. The effective year is on record for 62.5% of houses, so the renovation share says nothing about the other 37.5%. It also records a date and not the work, so permits and photos show what was done where the date only shows when.
How long do owners keep Brisbane houses, and who owns them?
The median Brisbane house has been held 13.3 years by its current owner, as of 20 October 2026. Of the houses with a sale date, 66.0% have been held more than 10 years, 33.9% more than 20 years and 14.8% more than 30 years (791 houses counted). Few houses change hands in any year, so what you can tour at one time is a small slice of the stock.
These holds are a floor. Only 77.0% of houses carry a recorded sale date. The houses with no date look older and lower in assessed value, and may belong to the longest-held owners. The latest transfer on record is 15 May 2026, so every hold also runs short by up to five months.
On ownership, 15.7% of houses are listed under a trust or company name: 14.4% under trusts and 1.3% under companies, such as an LLC (1,027 houses counted). A trust is a way to plan an estate and is common among owners who live in the house for decades, so a trust is not read as an investor buying in. The corporate or LLC share is the closest thing to an investor count here, and it is small. The county does not record who lives in a house, so this counts the kind of name on a house and not who lives there. Another 60.9% of houses list a second owner.
What does a Brisbane house cost to hold each year?
The median annual property tax bill on a Brisbane house is $9,059, as of 20 October 2026, which is an effective rate of 1.187% of assessed value (1,027 houses counted). Assessed value is the county's figure under Proposition 13 and the median is $760,022. It is not market value, not what a house is worth and not what it would sell for. The county's data does not split land from building, so these values describe the whole property.
Proposition 13 sets a base value when a house changes owners and limits increases to 2% a year until the next sale. So an assessment tells you when a house was bought before it tells you anything about the house. Across the 767 houses with a recorded transfer amount, the median house is assessed at 1.23 times that amount, and 10.4% sit at 2 times that amount or more. A transfer that was not a full-price sale cannot be told apart in this data.
Houses of about the same size show the effect most clearly. We compared houses in one size band, all with a recorded sale date, and the median assessed value was $1,257,400 for those bought in the last five years and $542,440 for those held 20 years or more. That is a ratio of 2.32 times.
Table: Median assessed value of Brisbane single-family houses in one size band, by time held, as of 20 October 2026.
| Group | Median assessed value | Houses counted |
|---|---|---|
| Bought in the last five years | $1,257,400 | 60 |
| Held 20 years or more | $542,440 | 141 |
How many Brisbane houses could be rebuilt, and what about empty lots?
A screen for houses that could be rebuilt picks out old houses that are lightly built on their lots and have no renovation on record. It flags 182 houses as strong matches, which is 17.7% of the 1,027 houses as of 20 October 2026, and another 32.8% as moderate matches. Treat the 182 as a ceiling, not a forecast. The effective year is blank for 37.5% of houses, and 99 of the 182 qualify partly because a blank year counts as no renovation. Among houses with an effective year on record, the strong share is 12.9%.
The screen is a count of houses and says nothing about what any owner will do. It grants no permits either, so ask the city what it allows on a lot.
Brisbane also has 236 vacant lots. Their median lot is 44,398 square feet, 29.7% are held by corporate or LLC owners, and the median hold is 22.0 years among the 104 with a sale date. The vacant lots are far larger than the lots under houses, which have a median of 4,866 square feet.
Common questions
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