- Buyers are targeting more affordable suburbs
- Limited listings and increased buyer confidence are driving sales
- Affordable homes are selling quickly in Brisbane and Perth
Despite higher interest rates, property prices have again started to rise with some homes in some areas being sold in under two weeks according to new data.
PropTrack found that homes in some suburbs such as Thabeban in regional Queensland and Leda in Perth are lasting as little as 12 days after being listed on realestate.com.au.
The data showed that the fastest-selling suburbs were heavily focused in Queensland and Perth and were all at the more affordable end of the market.
Homes in Thabeban have a median price of just $373,000 while Leda sits at $388,000 highlighting that affordability is key for buyers in the current high-inflation environment.
Weekly asking prices* for 4670, including Thabeban
Across Queensland, Meringandan West, Darling Heights, and Rockville, houses all sold at or under 14 days, with median sales prices of less than $600,000.
Meanwhile, in Perth, Greenfields, Haynes, Seville Grove, and Merriwa all made the list of fastest-selling locations.
These suburbs have median sale prices ranging from $380,000 to $440,000, with days on market between 14 to 15 days.
For units, affordability continues to be the main theme. Manoora, located in Queensland, tops the list with a median sale price of just $236,000 and just 13 days on the market.
Browns Plains in Greater Brisbane follows closely behind with a median sale price of $355,000, offering affordable unit options for buyers in the capital city with days on market of just 14.
Other suburbs such as Mooroobool, Westcourt, Taigum, Nerang, Murrumba Downs, Taringa, and Pacific Pines across Queensland and Greater Brisbane are selling in just 15 to 20 days.
Fastest selling suburbs – houses
| Rank | Suburb | GCCSA | Current days on site | Current median sale price |
| 1 | Thabeban | Rest of Qld | 12 | $373,000 |
| 2 | Leda | Greater Perth | 12 | $388,000 |
| 3 | Meringandan West | Rest of Qld | 13 | $583,000 |
| 4 | Darling Heights | Rest of Qld | 14 | $501,000 |
| 5 | Rockville | Rest of Qld | 14 | $408,000 |
| 6 | Greenfields | Greater Perth | 14 | $380,000 |
| 7 | Werrington County | Greater Sydney | 15 | $800,000 |
| 8 | Haynes | Greater Perth | 15 | $430,000 |
| 9 | Seville Grove | Greater Perth | 15 | $410,000 |
| 10 | Merriwa | Greater Perth | 15 | $440,000 |
Source – PropTrack
Cheap areas appealing to buyers
PropTrack Economist, Angus Moore said that buyers are looking at cheaper options in many areas.
“A lot of the suburbs where we’re seeing kind of quick sales times, across the country, tend to be the more affordable suburbs,” said Moore.
“This is consistent with, the fact that interest rates have risen very quickly in the past 12 months.”
“That’s obviously made affordability much tougher for many people, and so as a result we might be seeing some buyers substitute towards more affordable suburbs, where perhaps, 12 or 18 months ago they were considering, nearby but more expensive areas.”
Moore said the other side of the equation was that listings still remain incredibly tight.
“Particularly in Perth, but also in parts of regional Queensland, we are seeing not very many properties, listed for sale on realestate.com au.”
Angus Moore, PropTrack Economist
“To put that in some context in April the total number of properties listed for sale, through the month, that includes new listings plus ones that were on the market previously, is about 9% lower than it was a year ago in Perth.
“In regional Queensland, it’s about 3% lower and that’s on already low levels a year ago.
“If there’s not a lot of stock available, you’d expect to see buyers having to compete a bit so stock moving a little bit quicker.”
Return of buyer confidence
According to Moore, we are also starting to see the return of buyer confidence.
“Given that we look like we’re closer to the peak in interest rates now, we might start to expect buyer confidence to be improving a little bit.”
“Compared to 12 months ago when the RBA was raising 50 basis points every meeting and buyer borrowing capacity was falling very quickly.”
“As a result, it’s not really the situation buyers are facing now, so they’ve got a bit more certainty about what they can afford and therefore you know how much they’re willing to spend.”
Moore said that the added confidence will likely help support the market broadly but it will still be most evident in more affordable areas.
“The fact that affordability is significantly more difficult than it was 12 to 18 months ago.”
“We’d, we’d still expect to be a tailwind to more affordable areas.”
Fastest selling suburbs – units
| Rank | Suburb | GCCSA | Current days on site | Current median sale price |
| 1 | Manoora | Rest of Qld | 13 | $236,000 |
| 2 | Browns Plains | Greater Brisbane | 14 | $355,000 |
| 3 | Mooroobool | Rest of Qld | 15 | $303,000 |
| 4 | Carina Heights | Greater Brisbane | 16 | $600,000 |
| 5 | Westcourt | Rest of Qld | 17 | $285,000 |
| 6 | Taigum | Greater Brisbane | 20 | $470,000 |
| 7 | Nerang | Rest of Qld | 20 | $495,000 |
| 8 | Murrumba Downs | Greater Brisbane | 20 | $390,000 |
| 9 | Taringa | Greater Brisbane | 20 | $510,000 |
| 10 | Pacific Pines | Rest of Qld | 20 | $545,000 |
Source – PropTrack
~~
* Weekly asking prices are a different measure to median price.
