Brisbane is the capital of Queensland, Australia. It is also regarded as the country’s third most populous city, ranking behind Melbourne and Sydney. It lies between the Great Dividing Range and Moreton Bay, along the Brisbane River.

Brisbane is not far behind Melbourne and Sydney in drawing a tourist crowd. And it has its fair share of accommodating hotels to boost.

Sofitel Brisbane Grand Central
This hotel is located at 249 Turbot Street 4000 Brisbane, Australia. It is managed by Mr. Goran Aleksandrovski. It is near Eagle Street Pier, the city center, Convention Center and South Bank Parklands.

The hotel has a total of 429 guest rooms in its 30-story building. This is along with a heated rooftop pool, fitness center, spa, bars, restaurants and a night club. It also has 13 conference facilities that can accommodate up to 1,100 people, an outdoor pool, Day Spa Retreat and a gymnasium. Other facilities and amenities include concierge services, a car for hire service desk, dry cleaning and ironing services as well as a tourist information desk, currency exchange and porter services.

Those with toddlers and kids have the privilege to request for babysitting services. Furthermore, florists, night clubs, discos and salons are just close by.

Rendezvous Hotel Brisbane
This non-smoking hotel is located at 255 Ann Street Brisbane Queensland, Australia. Check in time at the hotel is at 2PM while check out time is at 11AM. Should you have problems after your reservation, you need to contact the hotel at least 2 days before your supposed arrival. Hence, failure to do so will mean a 1 night cancellation fee that will be charged to credit cards like American Express, Diners Club, MasterCard, JCB, Visa and Bankard.

Rendezvous Hotel has a total of 131 rooms. Guests are guaranteed with in-room dining, broadband Internet access, a guest library, babysitting services, currency exchange facilities and luggage storage. They also provide business services, 24hr room and concierge services along with valet parking, handicap accessible rooms, express check-out, dry cleaning and laundry services.

Hilton Brisbane
This hotel is located at 190 Elizabeth Street Brisbane Queensland, Australia. Check in time is at 2PM while check out time is at 11AM.

Hilton Brisbane is only 440 yards off the Central Station and less than one mile from the Convention and Exhibition Center. It offers a 24 hour business center, heated pool, tennis court and Executive Lounge. Hence, the hotel is also famous for its Game on Bar, Atrium Restaurant and Below 7 Lounge Bar which serves cocktails and fine wines.

Other amenities and facilities of the hotel include a pool, biz center, fitness center, high speed Internet access and handicap facilities along with meeting rooms, self-parking, valet parking and whirlpools.

Although the hotel does not allow pets, its guestrooms have spectacular views of the city. For strolls and sightseeing activities, popular attractions in Brisbane include the Botanic Gardens, South Bank Parklands and the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary which are just 10 minutes away from the hotel.

It is no wonder why Brisbane has tourists drawn to it year after year. With the many exciting activities and establishments near its elegant hotels, Brisbane will never run out of guests.

Brisbane property investments are in a very unusual position. Given the economic downturn worldwide, and particularly in the USA, property investment in most parts of the world has come to a halt.

The competitive advantage enjoyed by Brisbane property investors is that Brisbane – and the southeast of Queensland in general – has continued to grow as Australians have headed north to the Sunshine State and immigrants have continued to arrive. This population growth has outstripped property investment, keeping prices reasonably buoyant compared to the rest of the world. This is particularly true of Brisbane CBD properties. Even during the black times of 2008, property within 10 km of Brisbane CBD was actually growing in some suburbs.

The second half of 2009 will be very interesting for Brisbane property investments. The Australian government’s first home buyer’s grant of $21,000 for new homes and $14,000 for established homes is due to be halved at the end of September 2009, and phased out completely before the end of 2009. This grant has fuelled property investment in Brisbane during 2008-9, but its removal may slow growth in 2010, making this the ideal time to invest in real estate in Brisbane.

While Brisbane CBD investment properties are strong, there are suburbs where property has yet to move. For this reason it is very important if you are considering property investment in Brisbane to do analysis suburb by suburb. Even during 2008 there were suburbs were experiencing double-digit growth in value, while other suburbs moved backwards. This disparity between suburbs makes the Brisbane real estate scene an interesting one, with bargains available for both buyers and sellers.

Another interesting element in timing is that at the time of this report – September 2009 – interest rates in Australia have dropped by 4.25%, but all indications now are that future movements will be upwards. The combination of low interest rates and the first-time buyer’s grant have fueled property investment in Brisbane, but the removal of this grant and higher interest rates may slow growth during 2010 – although this is by no means certain, as the population will almost certainly continue to grow.

If you need to sell your house, either for personal reasons or to rebalance your property investment portfolio, late 2009 may be a good time for selling Brisbane property investments.

Also, Brisbane real estate is currently seeing some very competitive offers on reducing the normal 2.5% commissions. By shopping around, Brisbane real estate buyers may be able to save them themselves thousands on real estate commissions. A graph of Brisbane property prices over the last 30 years shows consistent growth and it may be a great time to buy Brisbane CBD investment properties, particularly if you can afford to hold your investment for a while.

While there will always be a degree of uncertainty in buying and selling real estate, the position with Brisbane’s CBD investment properties compares extremely favorably with properties in places like in the USA and the UK that have been hit hard by the current economic recession.