Top suburbs: property prices up at both ends of housing market

Affordable and luxury suburbs have been the beneficiaries of the 2023 surprise price growth, with some rises in some suburbs matching Covid-highs. | DID YOUR SUBURB MAKE THE LIST?

Lena and Ben Hudghton, at their home in Clontarf, Northern Sydney. The property is for sale. PropTrack will release data on Saturday showing the top-performing suburbs in the country. In NSW, Clontarf was equal first, up 17 per cent year-on-year. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

All the nation’s five largest cities have shared in this year’s surprisingly strong housing price growth, with both luxury and affordable suburbs attracting the “hot property” label.

New data from housing researcher PropTrack has revealed affordable areas in Perth proved some of the biggest movers of the year, with some areas up 34 per cent despite 13 interest rate rises in the past 18 months and cost-of-­living pressures.

National real estate network The Agency’s chief executive, Geoff Lucas, said there were no generalisations in the current property market, with bright spots in different areas and price points performing differently.

“Reports of a new record median price can be really deceptive because there are so many things at play within that, so it’s important to assess an individual market’s performance,” Mr Lucas said.

“Reduced affordability is beginning to bite, and we’re seeing more activity at the mid to lower levels. At the luxury end, we’d expect that to continue to be strong because those people are not as sensitive to interest rate changes as people with mortgages.”

Perth’s southeast region offers some of the cheapest housing options in the westernmost capital, which is believed to be the key reason behind its massive growth. Armadale and Brookdale each rose 34 per cent through 2023, the largest of any suburb in the country, followed by Camilo (up 33 per cent) and Hilbert (up 32 per cent).

Southeast Perth agent Shane Beaumont said young families and eastern state arrivals made up a majority of the buying pool. Investors were also being drawn to the area, due to its growth and strong yields. “It’s literally immigration, young families realising bang for buck,” Mr Beaumont said.

“People are getting good land holding, they’ve got big enough room to have the pool and the kids to kick the footy. That’s becoming rarer and rarer.”

It was a similar story in the other smaller state capitals. Adelaide’s top movers were Elizabeth North (up 30 per cent) and Elizabeth Downs (up 27 per cent), while in Brisbane it was Riverview (up 24 per cent) and Acacia Ridge (up 22 per cent).

PropTrack economist Anne Flaherty noted demand in the smaller capitals had been high for the number of homes on the market, which drove price growth.

“Across the board, property prices exceeded expectations this year, especially against a backdrop of interest rates,” she said.

“We’re seeing really strong year-on-year price growth in the suburbs that offer houses at values below median price levels.”

But not all suburbs were entry-level. On the edge of Sydney’s prized harbour, Clontarf was the city’s biggest mover, up 17 per cent – which was no surprise to local sellers Ben and Lena Hudghton, who said the tightly held homes were often in hot demand.

“It’s got such a great community feel that area and the beach is beautiful,” said Mr Hudghton. “I’ve lived in the Caribbean and the waters are comparable.”

Sydney achieved the most diverse spread of growth, with Denistone East (up 17 per cent) and Parklea (up 16 per cent) also in the top 10. In Melbourne, Harkaway and Officer South (both up 10 per cent) tied for the No.1 spot.

Hobart was the only capital to report losses in its top 10, with growth of 2 per cent in Kingston Beach the only positive. Ms Flaherty suspects the big Covid growth was unsustainable, and the market was correcting.

PropTrack expects prices to rise between 1 and 4 per cent in 2024, with the smaller capitals continuing to outperform.