Despite the uncertainty throughout the last year of COVID-19, things are now starting to improve due to a combination of successful lockdowns, a vaccination roll-out and economic stimulus. These have given a boost to the housing market where prices are on the rise.
As with most things, increased activity isn’t consistent everywhere and there are significant variances. Some areas are seeing substantial increases in house prices while others are much lower and even flat. So which areas are winning and what are the reasons for the differences?
The Best Performing Suburbs
Darling Point in Sydney has the highest median house value in Australia at $7 million, but it’s not alone. There are many areas in all metropolitan areas that have a median house value well into the millions.. The prices, when compared to previous years, tend to illustrate the relative stability of luxury housing market values even in uncertain times.
For the majority of buyers who can’t afford these sorts of prices, the annual rate of capital growth is of more interest. This varies by state and territory:
- Sunshine Beach on the Sunshine Coast of Queensland recorded a 17.1% increase
- Bombala in the Monaro Region of New South Wales increased by 22.4%
- Murtoa in Victoria’s north west increased by 22.4%
- Port Elliot in the south east of South Australia saw a 23.7% rise
- In Western Australia, Wannamal in Mandurah rose by 17.2%
- Rosebery in the north west of Tasmania recorded a 27.3% increase
- Darwin’s Alawa in the Northern Territory went up by 24%
- Flynn in Australia’s capital gained 15.5%.
A recent survey of house sellers showed that those who were most satisfied with the price achieved were in Southern Melbourne, closely followed by The Mallee, also in Victoria, and then Eastern Melbourne plus three other Melbourne suburbs in the top ten. This suggests that Victoria in general and Melbourne in particular are the best areas to sell.
What affects your Buying and Selling Decisions
The decision to sell your home isn’t, of course, based purely on the price you’ll get for it. You may want to sell because you’re moving elsewhere, possibly for your job, or because you need a larger or smaller property.
Rising prices in your area may persuade you to move earlier to take advantage of a buoyant market. However, if you’re selling for a good price, you may have to pay a comparable price for your new property if it’s also in a popular area.
Location is one of the main factors in determining a house’s price. You can always renovate an outdated property and can often extend it to give you more space but you can’t do much about where it is. The suburbs with the best prices and the fastest increases are those that are most popular; they often have good transport links, excellent amenities and a low crime rate that all attract buyers.
Selling in a popular suburb and moving to a less favoured one, though possibly one that’s on the rise, will give you the opportunity to move to something bigger and better. And, of course, any profit you make is tax free