A recurring theme in many markets around the nation is that the local growth leaders are the more affordable locations.
Our new Winter edition of The Price Predictor Index shows that Sydney overall is down, but many of its cheaper areas still have good demand.
Perth is buoyant, led by the affordable precincts.
It’s a similar story in Brisbane and Adelaide, with very strong buyer demand in the more affordable areas in particular.
And in Melbourne, where the millionaire precincts have shown evidence of decline, the most affordable LGAs still have lots of growth markets.
The City of Melton features among our Top 10 municipalities in The Price Predictor Index – but the Hume, Wyndham, Whittlesea, Casey and Frankston LGAs also have a majority of rising suburbs, with buyers chasing affordability in an expensive city.
Another emerging affordability trend revealed by this Winter 2022 edition of the Index is that locations with a high content of apartments in the mix are attracting rising demand – particularly in the most expensive, capital cities.
Sydney sales activity, overall, has dropped significantly but demand has picked up in apartment suburbs with median unit prices below the overall Sydney median of $830,000.
In many cases, the demand is occurring in suburbs where the median unit price is well under half the median for houses (including some where typical units cost a third of the price of houses).
In Melbourne we’ve seen an uplift in activity in inner-city areas: in the City of Melbourne, 9 of the 10 suburbs analysed have rising momentum. Open borders are boosting demand.
The Index report also confirms the continuation of another affordability trend, the one I call the Exodus to Affordable Lifestyle.
This movement has been around for many years, long before Covid made it more visible.
And one of the early leaders was Regional Victoria, boosted by people escaping expensive Melbourne.
Regional cities like Geelong and Ballarat have been delivering big price growth for 4-5 years ago, joined more recently by Bendigo, Shepparton, Wodonga, Warrnambool and the Latrobe Valley towns.
Six months ago it looked like Regional Victoria was fading but it has re-surged since.
Geelong just keeps on growing and, along with Ballarat and Bendigo, will gain further impetus from work to prepare for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Growth in Regional Queensland over the past 3-4 years has been led by the Sunshine Coast, with the Gold Coast joining the party since Covid struck.
But now, as signs emerge that the Sunshine Coast may have passed it peak, regional cities in Central Queensland have started to grab more attention.
Rockhampton features as one of our National Top 10 municipalities in The Price Predictor Index, but Gladstone, Mackay and Bundaberg are also stand-out markets.
In both Gladstone and Mackay, most of the suburbs included in our analysis are rising markets, helped by their affordability, low vacancies and strong yields, under-pinned by busy local economies.
So the message is strong and clear in this new Winter edition of The Price Predictor Index: markets that offer a degree of affordability are continuing to attract elevated buyer demand and have good prospects for future price growth.