- 20% of Queensland first home purchases occurred in Toowoomba
- In New South Wales and Victoria, first home buyers were spread around
- In WA, the most concentrated suburb for first home buyers was in Bunbury
An analysis of over 3,000 transactions so far this year by independent mortgage brokers has revealed which suburbs are first home buyer sanctuaries.
Mortgage broker platform Hashching has released its 20-21 state of the market data, providing a snapshot of the lending activity.
“Before beginning the analysis, we had a hunch we’d see high levels of concentration when it [came] to first home buyers,” explained Hasching CEO Arun Maharaj.
“The group has the most in common with each other – younger, lower budgets and often employees over self employed.
“This would lead to areas with a sweet spot of good commuting options into capital cities, affordable housing and/or nearby recreational areas seeing high transaction numbers.”
Arun Maharaj, Hasching CEO
While this could apply to Queensland, Tasmania, Western Australia South Australia and the ACT, a different narrative emerged in Victoria and New South Wales.
Mr Maharaj said this represented one thing – market failure.
“The housing market has not created appealing centres of entry-level property for this embattled group.
“This results in buyers choosing to save more and compete with buyers higher up the ladder rather than relocate, or to choose to purchase their first home elsewhere.
“From the data, it looks like Hobart is the prime beneficiary of this trend, which saw high first home buyer activity in centralised locations, with Adelaide’s southern postcodes also seeing significant activity, which suggests first home buyers are finding refuge there from other states.”
Queensland has become a first home buyer’s sanctuary with 20% of all first home buyer transactions throughout the state taking place in Toowoomba (4350) with nearby St Aubyn (4352) taking second place with 4% of transactions.
SQM Research data show weekly asking prices for houses have remained relatively stable in Toowoomba since the middle of the last decade.
Toowoomba – 4350
New South Wales, however, was the polar opposite.
First home buyers (FHB) in NSW were the most concentrated in the suburb of Pemulwuy (2145), representing 2% of the state’s total. All other postcodes represented less than 1%, meaning the first home buyers were well spread around.
Two Victorian suburbs had similar results, with Devon Meadows (3977) and Roxburgh Park (3064) representing 2% of FHB transactions each.
In the Australian Captial Territory, Dunlop (2615) took the top spot, representing 11% of all FHB transactions, followed by Kambah (2902) and Amaroo (2914) with 10% each. First home buyers were pushed to the outskirts of Canberra in all directions.
In South Australia, Port Lincoln (5606) represented 8% of FHB transactions, with Flagstaff Hill (5159) and Ascot Park (5043) equal second with 6% each.
The regional city of Bunbury, located two hours south of Perth, had first home buyers recording 6% of all FHB transactions. Pearsall (6065) represented 5% of those transactions followed by Mullaloo (6027) with 4%.
Over in Tasmania, Lenah Valley (7008) was at the top, taking 12% of FHB transactions, with neighbouring North Hobart (7000) a close second at 11% and Tranmere (7018) at 9%.
