New data has revealed the fastest-growing suburbs in Australia, with seven suburbs returning growth rates above 30 per cent for the most recent quarter.
The suburbs with the fastest-growing median home prices across the nation were identified by CoreLogic RP Data statistics, with suburbs experiencing more than 30 per cent growth found in several states.
Lorne in Victoria had the highest growth in unit prices for the quarter, the current median price of $625,000 representing an increase of 34.13 per cent.
This was followed by Oakbank in South Australia, where house prices experienced an increase of 33.41 per cent based on the current median price of $740,416.
Rye in Victoria had the third-fastest growth rate, 33.28 per cent with a median unit price of $444,500.
Wundowie in Western Australia recorded an increase in its median house price of 32.96 per cent – the fourth-fastest rate of increase in the nation and the first in that state. Its current median house price is recorded at $410,000.
New South Wales was home to numbers five and six – houses in Coolah and Wyee Point experienced growth of 31.93 per cent and 31.73 per cent respectively – while Charlton in Victoria rounded out the list with a figure of 30.59 per cent based on its median house price.
Notable metro suburbs included Melbourne’s Burnley, number six in Victoria with median house prices growing by 22.31 per cent, and South Australia’s Salisbury Downs and Port Adelaide, where unit prices grew by 29.03 per cent and 25.14 per cent respectively.
Daniel Atsis, a sales manager at Hocking Stuart Richmond who operates in Richmond and Burnley, said he has noticed an increase in competition for houses in Burnley over the past six to 12 months, with self-managed superfund buyers a particularly strong segment of the market.
“Self-managed superfund buyers are absolutely killing it at the moment, they are very prevalent and they appear to have very deep pockets. They’re knocking out a lot of the traditional first home buyers that we’re seeing, or up-sizers from apartments, new families – they are getting outbid at auctions,” he explained.
Mr Atsis explained that there was a clear growth trend for housing stock in the mixed-zone suburb, which along with neighbouring Richmond has seen extensive high-rise development in recent years.
“It is quite industrial in the northern part, but it’s more homely in the southern part. There are some apartment towers that have gone up in the northern part of Burnley as well and we note that while they are moving along quite well, we’re probably not getting that much growth out of them. The real growth is in the period homes, like the two-bedroom single-fronted cottages and the like. So that’s where the median growth really would have come from,” he said.
Peter Koulizos, property author and academic, recently spoke to Which Investment Property about the state of the market in Adelaide’s far north, where Salisbury Downs (current median unit price $200,000)is located.
He warned investors tempted by the low prices and enticing growth figures of suburbs in the outer north, to be wary of the mass exodus of workers from the region following the closure of the Holden factory in Elizabeth at the end of 2017 and the subsequent closure of associated parts manufacturers in the area.
“There’ll be an issue in the not-too-distant future once Holden shuts, because a significant proportion of people work at Holden or related places of employment,” Mr Koulizos said. “Be prepared for a slow period so far as house price growth and rental is concerned.”
