Fast 50 2024 uncovers Australia’s top suburbs for property investment

For over 15 years, Smart Property Investment has been the voice for property investors seeking to build wealth through property, encompassing the platform www.smartpropertyinvestment.com.au as well as leading podcast, the Smart Property Investment Show, which receives over 220,000 downloads each month.

The Fast 50 report is the culmination of months of planning and research, with the key objective of helping property investors decide which markets they should put their money in today for the best capital growth in 2024 and beyond.

According to Phillip Tarrant, managing editor of financial services and real estate at Momentum Media, the holy grail of Australian property investment is identifying which locations are poised to grow and why.

“There are endless reports that reveal the suburbs that we’ve all missed out on. These are the ones that have already gone up! But to anyone looking to invest now, what use is that? What investors need to know is, ‘Where’s next?’,” he said.

Mr Tarrant said that by default, most analysts and big real estate data companies only have out-of-date numbers available to shape future market predictions.

“That’s not particularly ideal, right? While this is an excellent rearview mirror perspective, it’s more a measure of where you should have invested a year ago, rather than where to put your money today.

“Moreover, these companies usually shape their analysis and commentary on all properties with a bias to owner-occupiers — often neglecting properties purchased by property investors for the purpose of property investment.”

“The best insights are real-time, generated from boots-on-the-ground analysis and information sourced directly from agents and other connected professionals in any given area of assessment. This is called ‘ground truth’.”

Given the backdrop of eye-watering interest rate hikes, spiralling inflation, the spectre of recession, and the COVID-19 hangover, what property investors really need is a crystal ball — but sadly, they only exist in fairy tales, Mr Tarrant said.

Not to be deterred, in its endless pursuit of helping property investors make the best decisions, Smart Property Investment set its sights on achieving the unthinkable — a qualitative and quantitative report, generated from expert individual insights and backed by data, that reveals the suburbs that are tipped to be the next boom locations.

“The good news is, we’ve done it!” Mr Tarrant said.

Creating the report

You may not have heard of many of the suburbs on the Fast 50 list before; these are not the hotspots often bandied about on TV or overtly marketed on slick brochures.

And that’s the objective of the report — to uncover those suburbs best positioned to offer growth into the future.

To compile the Fast 50, Smart Property Investment asked some of the most trusted names in Australian property for their predictions on the property market and which suburbs they see as offering the most value for investors over the next 12 months, Mr Tarrant said.

“We didn’t give them a prescribed list of criteria to make their judgements on; instead, we acknowledge that every property expert measures value in very different ways.”

“This blended approach, matching unique research and analysis (which is often held tightly by our experts), underpinned by open-source property data, is unique,” he said.

These trusted insights, coupled with detailed data analysis, have in turn become the FAST 50 — a comprehensive and unique list of suburbs that experts agree will be strongholds for investment into 2024 and beyond.

According to Mr Tarrant, rather than rank the Fast 50 from 50 through to the top spot, Smart Property Investment instead listed each location in alphabetical order.

“All these suburbs offer sound investment appeal at different price points. This ensures no specific bias to one suburb over another and reflects the diversity of ‘investable’ suburb locations to suit the strategy needs and outcomes for all investors.”

Interpreting the report

Paul Glossop, CEO of Pure Property Investment, partner in the report and one of Australia’s top buyer’s agents, said the report offers a unique perspective on Australian property with the specific objective of generating the best capital return.

“The last three years in the Australian property market have been monumental, to say the least. With a combination of a global pandemic, record capital growth, coupled with record reductions in value now culminating in record rental growth and unsurpassed international migration, this report takes into consideration all these facets and more,” he said.

According to Glossop, to best leverage the report’s findings, investors need to concentrate on the development of a sound strategy for property investment and seamlessly execute it.

“All too often I hear of investors that are waiting for the best time to invest, or the perfect opportunity. Here’s the home truth: it’s always a good time to invest if you’re prepared, [financially] ready, have up-to-date insights and the best team around you.

“The Fast 50 report offers insights into the best 50 suburbs identified by a panel of Australia’s best property professionals, which price ranges to support all property investors, from the low 400-thousand-odd dollars to well over a million dollars.”

“Investors that are serious about capital growth and taking control of their financial future should use this report to support their decision-making, stress test their strategy and capitalise on the opportunity property provides Australians for controlling their financial future,” he said.

Click here to read the FAST 50 report.