Waterfront suburbs and affordable family-friendly areas topped buyers’ most desired locations during April, while pools, courtyards and a study remain firmly on their must-have list, data from Domain shows.

The rising interest rate and various housing schemes proposed during the election campaign have likely fuelled buyers’ interest in the affordable end of the market, but the housing preferences triggered by the pandemic continued to dominate what and where people were buying, Domain’s chief of research and economics Nicola Powell said.