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Fast sales, big gains: Top 10 suburbs where property growth soars
The nation’s 10 hottest property markets have been revealed, with just three states dominating amid low vacancies and strong yields. Here is where to invest.
New Hotspotting research has revealed the top 10 “hottest” property markets in Australia, with all featuring across South Australia, Queensland, and Western Australia.
The analysis considered locations that had the coveted combination of minimal days on market, low vacancy rates, solid yields, and a history of regular price growth.
According to Hotspotting director Terry Ryder, the top suburbs share common features, such as being located outside of NSW and Victoria, and being considered affordable property areas.
“With the exception of Crafers in the Adelaide Hills, all of the other suburbs have median prices below $1 million for houses, and well below that again for units,” he said.
Ryder said units in Douglas, Queensland, and houses in Joondalup, Perth, were tied for first place.
According to the research, units in Douglas had an average of 13 days on market, a median unit price of $350,000, and a price growth of nearly 17 per cent over the past year.
Similarly, houses in Joondalup also recorded 13 days on market, with a median price growth of nearly 12 per cent in the past year, and a median house price of $901,000.
Next on the list was Hawthorndene in South Australia, with 14 days on the housing market, followed by Doubleview in Perth, where units took about 16 days to be sold.
Ryder said the results demonstrated his longstanding hypothesis that more affordable property markets tend to exhibit the best price growth in the medium to long term.
“It’s highly unlikely that many property pundits picked Acacia Ridge in Brisbane or Port Willunga in Adelaide to be market outperformers a few years ago, but here we are,” he said.
In addition, another commonality shared between the suburbs was average annual median price growth over the past five years, ranging from 7.18 per cent in Douglas to 15.88 per cent in Port Willunga.
“Every single property buyer and investor would be very happy with this type of property growth, but many probably bought in much more expensive markets,” Ryder said.
Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) chairman Lachlan Vidler said that while investor activity had improved over the past year, rental supply still needs to increase significantly.
“Another telling element of this research is the fact that each one of the top locations has a vacancy rate of less than 2 per cent with some, such as Hawthorndene, Doubleview and Shaw, recording a vacancy rate of zero,” Vidler said.
He added that a vacancy rate of 3 per cent is considered a balanced rental market, but the top 10 markets are nowhere near this level.
“Which is why their rents also increased over the past year, including 17 per cent in Acacia Ridge and 28 per cent in Crafters.”
Vidler also said that more investors have been looking nationwide for their next opportunity, and issued some advice for those considering markets in other states.
“Working with qualified property investment professionals, who are appropriately licensed in the states and territories they operate in, as well as having plenty of experience and successful results for their clients, is imperative to prevent costly mistakes when purchasing in unfamiliar or interstate markets,” he concluded.