Investment in property in Australia is usually a sure-fire win, but the biggest issue of late has simply been finding a place to buy for a reasonable price.
Sydney’s median house price is now well above $1 million and the ACT recently overtook Melbourne in the national rankings, with both north of $830,000.
That said, there is still value to be found in the market, leading one expert to identify Moreton Bay, Ballarat, Newcastle, Perth and Adelaide as the locations where investors should be looking to sink their cash.
“It’s unlikely that anyone is going to find quality properties such as a free-standing house on a good block of land,” said Grant Foley, a Sydney property agent who produced the report, of the market in his city. “You’d struggle to get a unit for under $650,000 in Sydney.”
“People are moving, and rentvestors are looking outside of Sydney, because they’re simply priced out. Prices are not attainable so they’re taking their money into other markets.”
“I’m seeing a lot of demand for Brisbane. My enquires have skyrocketed for Brisbane, especially since the announcement of the Olympic Games.”
“That’s certainly proving very popular with investors, and the city is in the growth stage of the property cycle after having suboptimum growth for the last ten years. It’s in the beginning to middle of a large-scale boom.”
Newcastle and Ballarat are also highly ranked on Foley’s list, a symptom of the tree changer effect having exhausted peripheral areas of Melbourne and Sydney – notably Geelong, the Central Coast and Illawarra – and moved yet further away.
“I think it’s people looking for lifestyle benefits while still being able to keep their employment,” said Foley. “I’d call these semi-commutable areas back into the CBD.”
“What I’m seeing is people who are able to hold their current job and keep their current Sydney or Melbourne salary, but also have the lifestyle and affordability benefits of living in these regional markets, with the few to commuting back to the office one or two days a week.”
