How could you have achieved annual capital growth of 15% or more in 2023 – a year in which the national average performance has been half that level?

Could you have paid less than $400,000 for a house and made $60,000 in capital gains in 12 months while getting above-average rental returns?

Or outlaid as little as $600,000 and watched it grow to $700,000 within a year?

How is that achievable?

The answer is by reading Hotspotting’s “National Top 10 Best Buys report” and buying a house at the median price in one of the recommended locations.

Suburbs in the areas that were our top picks a year ago have commonly achieved annual capital growth in the 12% to 18% range. East Toowoomba in Queensland grew 23% and Burton in South Australia appreciated 20%.

Let’s put that in perspective: The buyer achieving average performance on a $500,000 outlay would have made around $35,000 in capital growth. 

The informed investor – using the Best Buys report of 12 months ago – spending a similar amount in the suburb of Hillbank in northern Adelaide would have added $80,000 to their wealth.

There are many similar examples. 

Our top picks a year ago were …

the City of Onkaparinga in the southern suburbs of Adelaide;

the regional city of Toowoomba in Queensland;

the City of Ipswich is the south-western fringe of Greater Brisbane;

the City of Rockingham in southern Perth; and

the City of Salisbury in the northern suburbs of Adelaide.

The factors that these five locations have in common are affordability and superior capital growth throughout 2023.

Some people believe that the cheaper areas deliver inferior price growth, BUT the research evidence strongly disagrees.

And the evidence of our analysis of these five locations that we recommended a year ago is that they are the outperformers of Australia real estate.

Suburbs in these areas have commonly grown 12% to 18% in the past 12 months, compared to the national average of around 8%.