Suburbs across the eight states and territories have experienced significant quarterly growth, with six locations recording growth in excess of 30 per cent – but how much does this really tell us?
According to the figures, released by CoreLogic RP Data, NSW dominated the list of fastest-growing suburbs, with four suburbs recording quarterly house price growth of over 30 per cent.
Beechwood, a suburb west of Port Macquarie, experienced the most growth over the quarter, recording 32.84 per cent growth based on a median house price of $428,750.
This was followed by Wallacia, with 31.58 per cent growth ($775,000), Valentine with 30.68 per cent ($600,000), and Coolongolook with 30.61 per cent ($320,000).
Two other states are home to suburbs that recorded quarterly growth over 30 per cent, with Largs Bay in South Australia recording 30.91 per cent growth ($517,500) and Victoria’s Burnley experiencing 30.66 per cent growth ($957,500).
Across the rest of the country, the top suburbs for quarterly growth in each of the states and territories were Curtin, ACT (24.4), Beaudesert, Queensland (24.2), Forrestfield, WA (21.16), Cressy, Tasmania (20.83) and Parap, NT (18.54).
With almost half of the 11 fastest-growing suburbs based in regional areas, Jo Vadillo, buyers advocate and principal of Advocate Property Services, said that while property data like this is a good indication of growth in areas, it isn’t the only information investors should be looking at.
“I would always look to the ABS [Australian Bureau of Statistics] in terms of what the growth looks like for younger age brackets and demographics, for long-term growth reasons,” she said.
“My biggest concern [with a regional town] is if it’s having its glory days now, what’s going to happen in five years, 10 years, 15 years?
“Some of those regional areas might have had a burst of activity in the 80s and 90s, but then it reaches the university age bracket and they all skip town and go to the city where there could be more jobs and more money circulating.”
Ms Vadillo says it is also important to look at whether any roads are planned.
“Is there going to be a bypass, and therefore is the industry going to fall off?
“If the road systems improve or if there are plans in the next 10 years to improve the road systems, does this mean that it effectively becomes a ghost town?
“For me, I’d be looking at all those factors to make a judgement on investing in a regional area.”
