A fresh ranking of the happiest cities on the planet has been released, and five Australian capital cities made the cut. Ranked at number 1 in Australia, and 21 worldwide in the 2024 Happy City Index, Brisbane was the only Australian city to receive a gold rating.

Compiled by the Institute for Quality of Life, the index ranked 250 cities worldwide on governance, environment, economy and mobility and the impact they have on their citizens’ happiness.

Aarhus in Denmark topped the list, while other Australian cities included Melbourne (41st), Perth (61st), Hobart (87th) and Sydney (116th).

Demand for Brisbane units has seen price growth supercede houses in data released this week by Chief Economist Nerida Conisbee.

In her May report, Ms Conisbee noted Brisbane in the top 3 best performers nationally, beating Sydney and Melbourne price growth.

Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane continued their runaway growth in May with all cities now recording year-on-year growth of in excess of 14 per cent. Brisbane continued its strong run with prices up over 16 per cent for units in the last 12 months, a percentage above house prices. 

Price growth trends are likely to be similar in coming months. Inflation data released yesterday shows that it’s not coming down quickly and the expected timing of a rate cut remains for early next year.