This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
CAULFIELD East and Tyabb headline a Melbourne-heavy list of Australia’s top suburbs for buyers and renters on average salaries.
The latest quarterly HOOD.ai Buy or Rent on a Budget report identifies suburbs that “strike a balance between being affordable and desirable”.
For the top 10 sales markets, median sale prices ranged from $460,000 to $500,000, and average weekly household incomes ranged from $1,152 to $1,813. For rental markets, rents ranged from $285 to $330, and incomes from $1,135 to $1,816.
The research process filters out suburbs whose SA3 region is more than 100 kilometres from a capital city CBD, while suburbs are also excluded if they have a low socio-economic status, measured by having a socio-economic score of less than 5 on the Australia Bureau of Statistics’ SEIFA rating. A score of 5 means a location in the fifth decile, i.e. 41-50%, in terms of its socio-economic position.
Reflecting the issues in house affordability following recent housing booms, unit markets dominated the top 10 suburbs for buyers, and made up the entire list for renters.
Units in Melbourne suburbs Tyabb, Sydenham and Truganina were joined by Geelong’s Manifold Heights in topping the list of best suburbs to buy, followed by houses in Maslin Beach, in southern Adelaide, and units in Pacific Pines on the Gold Coast. Units Sunbury and Cranbourne North were next, followed by Grovedale in Geelong, and houses in Surry Downs in Adelaide’s north east rounded out the 10.
Tyabb’s unit market topped the list with a median sale price of $460,000, an average 33 days on market, location 50 kilometres away from the Melbourne CBD, and a SEIFA score of 7. Sydenham ($470,000 for units) and Surrey Downs ($500,000 for houses) were the closest to capital city CBDs at 18 and 17 kilometres respectively, although the Geelong and Gold Coast suburbs were closer to those cities’ CBDs.
Renters can more easily find digs closer to capital city CBDs. Units in Melbourne’s Caulfield East ranked on top with a weekly rent of $285 and vacancy rate of 3.3%, located 14 kilometres from the CBD with a SEIFA score of 9. Nearby Gardenvale was ranked second, followed by Kingsville, and then Adelaide’s Plumpton and Camden Park, Manifold Heights, Glenelg North in Adelaide, Heatherton in Melbourne, and inner Perth pair Wembley and Osborne Park.
SEIFA scores averaged 6 for top places to buy and 7.9 for top places to rent.
HOOD.ai founder and CEO Tommy Fraser said housing affordability is a hot-button political issue that is getting a lot of attention in the federal election campaign. More than 40% of voters in most Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne electorates are hit by rent and mortgage stress.
“It’s no wonder both sides of politics are talking about affordability, because the housing market is a tough place right now for people on average salaries,”
“Buyers have to deal with the fact prices have dramatically increased throughout Australia over the past 18 months, while tenants are faced with very low vacancy rates in many parts of the country.”
The Coalition has unveiled an expanded Home Guarantee Scheme as part of its election pitch to voters.
Rents in Australia’s capital cities have grown at their fastest rate in 13 years, according to Domain.
A Parliamentary Inquiry into Housing Supply and Affordability recommended several models for how a federal government could partner with state and territory governments to incentivise better housing supply outcomes, including boosting incentives for build-to-rent housing.
