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New hotspots emerge as buyer inquiry patterns reshape the market
Amid recent interest rate rises and other economic pressures, a new set of hotspots has been emerging nationwide, with a number of suburbs seeing a surge in inquiries as buyers opt for more cost-effective housing.
REA’s new report, which showed where buyer inquiry numbers have risen year on year to March 2026, saw Victoria leading buyers’ interest across the nation.
Nationally, Victorian suburbs saw the largest increase in house demand, with Woodstock recording a 313 per cent increase and Sebastopol also making the top three list.
Similarly, units in Portland saw the largest leap in inquiries nationwide, with a 178 per cent boost.
Tasmania also saw a notable rise in demand, with Risdon Vale making the list for houses at 265 per cent, while Howrah recorded a 154 per cent boost for units.
REA Group senior economist Angus Moore said affordable areas and the regions had dominated the list of suburbs with the biggest increases in inquiries.
“That’s consistent with buyers responding to the very challenging state of housing affordability by looking in more affordable areas,” he told Real Estate Business (REB).
“The deterioration in affordability we’ve seen in the past few years has been driven by strong growth in home prices in the smaller states, coupled with rapidly rising interest rates in 2022 and 2023.”
Moore said the trend towards more affordable suburbs was also consistent with the high level of investor activity seen in the past couple of years, with landlords skewing towards more cost-effective homes.
“The share of loans going to investors is at its highest level since 2017 nationally, and near-record levels in many states,” he said.
Meanwhile, the statewide data showed a clear discrepancy in inquiry increases, with Victoria recording the largest surges and South Australia seeing the least change.
Contrastingly, South Australia’s Kensington Gardens, Fairview Park, and Maslin Beach recorded house inquiry increases of just 62–94 per cent, while Somerton Park, Ascot Park, and Brooklyn Park showed 28–35 per cent for units.
Meanwhile, NSW made the top three nationwide for units, with Ropes Crossing recording a 156 per cent boost.
Demand was slower for Western Australia, with the largest increase in housing demand being in Dampier at 166 per cent, while unit demand saw comparatively lower rises, with Queens Park recording just 65 per cent.
In Queensland, the balance between markets was slightly more even, with Mossman leading the increases for houses at 136 per cent, while the biggest rise in inquiries for units was in Parkinson at 102 per cent.
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