← The Redlands Insider

July 2026 · Issue #1

That valuation letter you got? It’s a bigger deal than it looks.

If you own property in the Redlands, a letter from the State Government landed in your box this year — and for most people, the number inside was a shock. The Valuer-General revalued all 63,778 properties across Redland City, and land values jumped 20% on average, pushing the city’s total land value past $42 billion.

I’ve had a lot of calls about it. Here’s the straight version of what it means — and what it doesn’t.

1. No, your rates won’t jump 20%

Council has to use the State’s valuations when it calculates general rates, but it also sets the rate-in-the-dollar — and it lowered that figure so the valuation surge wasn’t simply passed through. The actual increase in the 2026–27 budget is 5.47%. Noticeable, not brutal. If your valuation rose well above the 20% average, though, your share of the rates pie grows more than your neighbour’s.

2. Your land value is not your sale price

The Valuer-General’s number is for your land only — it ignores your house, your renovation, your pool, your view. Real sale prices in the Redlands are running well ahead of land valuations. So don’t read that letter as “what my place is worth”. It isn’t. Usually, it’s comfortably less.

3. But it IS a signal — and it’s telling you something

A 20% state-sanctioned re-rating of every block in the city is the paperwork catching up with what the market’s been doing: interstate migration, tight land supply and Brisbane’s affordability squeeze are pushing buyers our way. If you haven’t had your home properly appraised in the last couple of years, the equity sitting under your roof has almost certainly moved more than you think — and that changes decisions about upgrading, downsizing, investing or holding.

Greg Leigh — local Redlands specialist, Queensland Sotheby’s International Realty. 300+ homes sold across Brisbane in 9 years.
Sources: Qld Valuer-General 2026 valuations; Redland City Council 2026–27 Budget; htag/CoreLogic suburb data.