Affordability has emerged as the common thread uniting Australia’s strongest housing markets, with PropTrack data showing the fastest-growing SA4 regions in each state are all priced well below their capital city counterparts.
This latest analysis comes as national home values are now around 9% higher than a year ago. The combined capital city median has pushed above $1 million, intensifying the search for value beyond the major metros.
REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh (pictured) said the top-performing regions share three key traits: affordability, resilient demand, and constrained stock.
“Buyers continue to gravitate toward markets where they can get more house for their money, particularly in regions within commuting distance of major employment hubs or with lifestyle appeal,” Creagh said.
In a recent report, she noted that “the strongest conditions remain concentrated in markets where buyer demand is facing into tight supply, particularly Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, and Adelaide.” When listings are scarce, this is quickly feeding into stronger price gains and competitive conditions for borrowers.
In New South Wales, the New England and North West region – including Tamworth and Armidale – has delivered double-digit growth from a median just above $500,000, attracting both investors and treechangers.
Local agent Mark Sleiman noted that “Tamworth is fast becoming the regional hub for northern NSW,” supported by construction, healthcare, agriculture and industrial employment.
Ipswich has become one of Queensland’s most competitive markets, particularly for first-home buyers and investors looking for entry-level properties within commuting distance of Brisbane. A median house value around the low-$900,000s has jumped by close to 19% in a year, with infrastructure and hospital upgrades underpinning jobs and demand.
In Victoria, Ballarat’s roughly $600,000 median continues to lure buyers priced out of Melbourne, including interstate investors.
The Bendigo region is also drawing strong investor interest, with solid recent price growth reinforcing central Victoria’s appeal as an affordable alternative to Melbourne’s outer suburbs.
Mandurah in Western Australia is now the nation’s hottest market, combining relative affordability with strong lifestyle appeal as buyers relocate from Perth and the east coast.
In South Australia, Adelaide’s northern suburbs have shifted from the city’s most affordable pocket to its hottest, with sustained first-home buyer and investor demand keeping values on a steep upward trajectory from around the $600,000 mark in many areas.
In Tasmania, Launceston and the state’s north are leading price rises as affordability and lifestyle draw buyers seeking a cooler climate and a more relaxed pace of life.
Darwin is also firmly in catch-up mode, with double-digit annual house price gains as renewed investor interest and very low stock drive stronger competition between investors and owner-occupiers.
Director Miles Walton said Mandurah’s tight stock and lifestyle appeal are giving many owners the confidence to trade up, while also drawing in new buyers from interstate and Perth’s pricier coastal suburbs.
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