Australia’s most affordable suburbs for first home buyers

31 AUG 2022 By Kyle Robbins 11 min read Hotspots

New research has identified 10 affordable and desirable Australian housing markets that offer a great opportunity for home owners.

Canberra suburbs spi

Well Money’s latest report has revealed the best suburbs within commuting distance of a major capital city’s central business district that are affordable to buyers on modest incomes. In order to come to its conclusions, the group analysed every suburb in Australia, filtering out those deemed unaffordable — for example, those with a median sale price that exceeds $750,000 — to find areas with a good socioeconomic standing, which saw suburbs excluded if their socioeconomic indexes for areas (SEIFA) score was lower than six.

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Additionally, suburbs were also not in contention if they were located more than 30 kilometres away from their relevant city centre.

These parameters leave a narrow list of applicable suburbs, ranked based on the number of years it would take an individual with an average household income in that suburb to buy a property outright at the relevant median sale prices.

Queensland dominated the list, boasting five suburbs, followed by South Australia and Western Australia’s two apiece, while the ACT claimed one.

Scott Spencer, Well Money chief executive officer, believes the decline in Australian property prices this year has increased the ease with which both young families and first home buyers are able to purchase their homes, adding that the list would help these buyers in identifying their optimal purchase location.

He did note that “it’s still challenging, because prices are declining from a high base”.

“This report aims to help buyers with a maximum budget of $750,000 find somewhere to live that is within commuting distance of the CBD. Options are still limited — but they do exist.

“That said, all the suburbs in the ranking are unit markets. Apartments can be great places to live, but they don’t suit everyone. Unfortunately, if you want to buy a house in a desirable location, you need to extend your budget beyond $750,000,” he concluded.

Australia’s 20 most affordable suburbs for modest income earners within travelling distance of the CBD are:

  1.   Macquarie (ACT) – Unit:

Median sale price: $300,000

Years of income to buy: Three

Inventory level: 1.2 months

SEIFA rank: Nine

  1.   City Beach (WA) – Unit:

Median sale price: $579,000

Years of income to buy: Three

Inventory level: 1.5 months

SEIFA rank: 10

  1.   Aubin Grove (WA) – Unit:

Median sale price: $415,000

Years of income to buy: 3.2 years

Inventory level: 1.9 months

SEIFA rank: Nine

  1.    Wavell Heights (Qld) – Unit:

Median sale price: $440,000

Years of income to buy: 3.2 years

Inventory level: 2.9 months

SEIFA rank: Nine

  1.   Camp Hill (Qld) – Unit:

Median sale price: $520,000

Years of income to buy: 3.2 year

Inventory level: 2.4 months

SEIFA rank: Nine

  1.   Mawson Lakes (SA) – Unit:

Median sale price: $333,000

Years of income to buy: 3.3 years

Inventory level: Two months

SEIFA rank: Six

  1.   Wakerley (Qld) – Unit:

Median sale price: $517,500

Years of income to buy: 3.4 years

Inventory level: Two months

SEIFA rank: 10

  1.   Ashgrove (Qld) – Unit:

Median sale price: $507,000

Years of income to buy: 3.4 years

Inventory level: 1.2 months

SEIFA rank: 10

  1.   Plympton (SA) – Unit:

Median sale price: $285,000

Years of income to buy: 3.4 years

Inventory level: 1.8 months

SEIFA rank: Six

  1.   Alderley (Qld) – Unit:

Median sale price: $415,000

Years of income to buy: 3.4 years

Inventory level: 2.4 months

SEIFA rank: 10

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