Recent figures have uncovered the ‘fastest-growing’ suburbs across the nation, but all might not be what it seems.
Figures released by CoreLogic RP Data have revealed the top 10 fastest-growing suburbs in Queensland based on quarterly price growth.
Arcadia, on Magnetic Island off the coast of Townsville, took the number one position with 29.51 per cent growth over the quarter.
Bungalow placed second with 25.1 per cent growth, and Kooralbyn third with 25.1 per cent.
These were followed by Oonoonba (22.64), South Brisbane (22.37), Gladstone Central (20.95), Minyama (19.51), Queenton (17.75) and Kalbar (16.24).
Brisbane suburb Nathan took out the 10th position with quarterly growth of 16.07 per cent.
Speaking to Which Investment Property, Simon Pressley, managing director of buyer’s agency Propertyology, said one suburb in particular stood out.
“South Brisbane is obviously a big suburb. There are lots of properties within it and lots of development going on,” he said.
“[However], it’s actually one of Propertyology’s ‘no-go zones’ because it’s in a significant over-supply situation. I would suggest that within the reporting period that we’re capturing here, perhaps settlements occurred in a number of brand new complexes, and they might have been the really luxury product or the top-level really expensive ones, and that distorts the situation.
“But I’d suggest the values are actually receding in South Brisbane, not going up.”
Arcadia and Oonoonba, which took out first and fourth place respectively, are located in the Townsville region, which Mr Pressley said is “actually as flat as a tack at the moment”.
“It’s not growing. The lookout for Townsville in the medium term is healthy, but it’s got some challenges at the moment,” he said.
Mr Pressley said Queensland as a whole is experiencing steady, controlled growth, but is not a hot market.
According to Mr Pressley, the best performing Queensland market at the moment is Cairns.
“I noticed one of the suburbs, Bungalow, is number two on the list. That’s in Cairns,” he said.
“That figure could be a reflection of the Cairns market, although Bungalow’s definitely not the most desirable part of Cairns. It’s probably more likely that there was a sediment of some kind of project there.
“When you’re analysing a suburb which has a very small number of properties, the changes in the median values are a reflection of the number of properties that are sold within what’s already a small location.”
Mr Pressley said he places no value on changes in monthly or quarterly median values for suburbs.
“When there’s such a small number of recorded transactions, the variances of up and down aren’t an accurate measure of actually what’s occurring,” he said.
“If the small number of properties that were sold in that reporting period happened to be the more expensive ones, or the recently renovated ones, or the new estate that happened to settle in that period, then when the average of those sale transactions are compared to the previous quarter, it appears like a market has boomed, when it’s actually just a reflection of the specific properties that sold in that very small period.”
Across the nation, NSW was the front-runner for fastest growth, with Moonbi recording 33.04 per cent growth across the quarter.
In South Australia, Kensington Gardens achieved 28.97 per cent growth, while Victoria’s Seaspray recorded 26.83 per cent.
The Northern Territory’s fastest-growing suburb was Marrakai (26.48), Tasmania’s was Otago (26.44), WA’s was Wannanup (23.53), and the ACT’s was Dunlop (14.31).
To see the top 10 fastest-growing suburbs for each state and territory, click here.
