This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
WESTERN Australia and Queensland dominate a list of the best places across the country in which to buy and invest in a home, shirking the impact of rising interest rates thanks largely to major infrastructure projects.
Hotspotting’s latest Top 10 National Best Buys includes Western Australia’s City of Stirling, Greater Geraldton and the City of Belmont, and Queensland trio Toowoomba, Brisbane Olympic Precinct and City of Townsville.
The report analyses regions across the nation to reveal which areas are primed for superior capital growt, and includes assessments on economic and property fundamentals such as infrastructure, employment nodes, urban renewal as well as lifestyle and interstate migration factors.
The City of Stirling is home to the strongest sales activity in Perth and has a range of is its range of price points, with median house prices above $1 million in several suburbs, while other locations are between $370,000 and $550,000. In the 12 months to May, notable price growth was seen in Carine (up 13%), Hamersley (15%) and Osborne Park (12%). The LGA is also seeing the $100 million Scarborough Beach redevelopment, the $800 million Karrinyup Shopping Centre expansion and a $400 million spend on transport.
Elsewhere in Western Australia, Geraldton, the state’s second largest port and a major mining centre, offers affordability amid rising sales activity, while Belmont is close to the CBD and Airport and will benefit from the Airport expansion, the Forrestfield-Airport link and Tonkin Highway Upgrade.
In Queensland, Toowoomba continued to be one of the strongest markets in regional Queensland, with no declining locations. The LGA remains highly affordable with most suburbs offering a median house price in the $400,000 to $600,000 range – including the Toowoomba CBD, which has median prices of $520,000 for houses and $350,000 for units.
The LGA has a $12 billion economy and major projects include the $31 billion Inland Rail Link, a $1.3 billion new hospital, and the $1.6 billion Second Range Crossing.
Also making the list were South Australia’s City of Salisbury, Inner West in Sydney, and the City of Hume and City of Geelong in Victoria.
Hotspotting director Terry Ryder said price data in the first seven months of the year has turned increasingly positive as property markets rebound.
“It’s important to note that the upturn in fortunes occurred long before the RBA decisions in July and August to pause its increases to the official interest rate,” Ryder said.
“Just as the decline in major markets like Sydney and Brisbane started well before the first interest rate rise in May 2022.
“This is because there are greater influences on property market outcomes than the level of interest rates.”
Ryder said while national house prices may have dropped four per cent in the year to July, according to CoreLogic, many of the best buys’ locations identified 12 months ago had recorded double-digit growth since that time.
Last year’s report featured the City of Onkaparinga in South Australia as the number one pick, followed by Toowoomba in Queensland and the City of Rockingham in Western Australia. Those who bought the median-priced house in suburbs in those locations could have achieved capital growth of more than $100,000 in the past 12 months.
In most cases, the top picks in that report achieved capital growth above 10%, and in some cases above 20%.
Hotspotting general manager Tim Graham said the latest Best Buys report features a mix of capital city and major regional locations where the metrics are showing sound capital growth potential ahead.
“Many of these locations include more affordable city areas, but also precincts where apartments offer the opportunity to purchase into blue-chip locations,” he said.
“Also, the plethora of major infrastructure underway in major regional locations is underpinning property markets there now and into the future.”
