Australian home prices fell for a further month in July, but new realestate.com.au data shows buyer interest is running in the opposite direction in a select group of affordable suburbs, where enquiries per listing have more than doubled over the past year.
Nationally, home prices dropped 0.3% in July, with broad-based declines across every capital except Darwin, which edged up 0.1%. Sydney led the falls at 0.6%, followed by Hobart and Adelaide at 0.5% each and Melbourne at 0.4%.
realestate.com.au senior economist Angus Moore linked the pullback to "the cumulative impact of three interest rate rises and changes to investor tax settings," which he said have "dampened buyer demand, driving a broad-based slowdown in home prices and market conditions."
Yet against that backdrop, buyer enquiries have surged in a specific tier of the market: smaller, more affordable suburbs largely outside the capitals. Risdon Vale in Tasmania recorded the largest jump nationally for houses, with enquiries up 245% year-on-year to July, ahead of Upper Burnie (+243%) and Chigwell (+199%), also both in Tasmania.
Every suburb in the national top 10 for houses had a median price under $1 million, and most were in Tasmania. For units, Victorian suburbs dominated, with Colac, Portland, and Herne Hill posting enquiry increases of between 133% and 206%.
The pattern held across individual states too, with Narrandera (+119%) leading NSW, Sebastopol (+163%) topping Victoria, and Mornington (+149%) leading Queensland's house enquiry growth.
REA Group senior economic analyst Megan Lieu said the suburbs drawing the strongest enquiry growth tend to share a common thread: relative affordability that leaves them less exposed to higher borrowing costs.
"An increase in enquiries doesn't directly translate into sales but it does show [that] there is an uplift in buyer interest in these suburbs," Lieu said. "If this interest converts into sales, then these areas may see stronger price movements in the upcoming months compared to the rest of the market."
That resilience stands in contrast to the broader market, where Moore noted regional areas overall have held up better than the capitals, with prices flat in July while unit values proved sturdier than houses. Lieu said the divergence was likely to persist even as conditions cool further nationally.
"The market as a whole is currently slowing," she said. "Price growth won't be at the level seen in recent years but areas in high demand are likely to [be] more resilient to the slowdown."
While the enquiry data points to isolated pockets of strength, listings and clearance figures suggest most of the market remains subdued. Auction clearance rates remain well below year-ago levels in Sydney and Melbourne despite a modest recovery from June lows, while national buy listings are up 4.2% year-on-year, giving buyers slightly more choice. Median time on market has also stretched by roughly a week nationally since April, with Perth's selling times lengthening from 29 days to 40 days as new stock hits the market.
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