The suburbs where demand is the highest among buyers

Megan Lieu, Economic Analyst at REA Group

First published 21 November 2023, 09:07 AM

Last updated 04 December 2023, 08:44 AM

Demand for housing is strong and home prices are hitting new peaks as a result. In some suburbs, property listings are receiving close to 100 enquiries from prospective buyers.

According to Proptrack's October Home Price Index, prices grew by 0.36% month-on-month and 4.54% since October 2022.

This has mainly been driven by combined capital cities where prices are 5.5% higher than a year prior. Prices in regional areas have also grown but by a smaller degree with prices 2.1% higher over the same period.

Strong demand from buyers is likely to persist for some time as rental conditions remain tight, sentiments around market performance improve, and choices of homes remain limited in most states.

Where demand is the strongest

To get a sense of the areas being impacted most by these market conditions, we looked at the suburbs with the largest number of key enquiries per listing.

Key enquiries include highly-engaged activities such as emailing, texting or calling an agent, revealing their phone number, downloading documents and submitting an inspection request.

Top 10 suburbs with the most key enquiries per listing - house

Rank	Suburb	State	Region	Median	Key enquiries per listing
1	Holgate	NSW	Greater Sydney	$2,000,000	95
2	Chandler	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$3,058,000	93
3	Matcham	NSW	Greater Sydney	$2,280,000	90
4	Burbank	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$1,890,000	82
5	Forestdale	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$1,115,000	75
6	Fountaindale	NSW	Greater Sydney	$1,780,000	70
7	Kingsholme	QLD	Rest of Qld	$2,003,000	69
8	Chiswick	NSW	Greater Sydney	$3,800,000	69
9	Cattai	NSW	Greater Sydney	$2,325,000	69
10	Kenthurst	NSW	Greater Sydney	$3,000,000	66
Source: PropTrack. Key enquiries per listing include email + phone reveal + doc download + sms agent + click to call agent + submit inspection request per listing, 12 month ending Oct 2023, with minimum 20 listings.

The majority of these suburbs were in Sydney and Brisbane where prices have risen by around 7.5% over the past year, reflecting the relationship between prices and demand.

For houses, Holgate in the NSW central coast and Chandler in Brisbane's south east topped the list with 95 and 93 key enquiries per listing respectively.

Burbank and Forestdale in Brisbane's south east and south were also popular among buyers with respective properties amassing 82 and 75 enquiries per listing.

Houses in Matcham and Fountaindale in NSW were in high demand as well.

Top 10 suburbs with the most key enquiries per listing - unit

Rank	Suburb	State	Region	Median	Key enquiries per listing
1	Durack	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$418,000	58
2	Belrose	NSW	Greater Sydney	$728,000	52
3	Waterford	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$345,000	51
4	Graceville	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$530,000	44
5	Gymea Bay	NSW	Greater Sydney	$1,268,000	44
6	Springfield	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$480,000	42
7	Richlands	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$437,000	42
8	Browns Plains	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$390,000	42
9	Airlie Beach	QLD	Rest of Qld	$490,000	40
10	Doolandella	QLD	Greater Brisbane	$419,000	40
Source: PropTrack. Key enquiries per listing include email + phone reveal + doc download + sms agent + click to call agent + submit inspection request per listing, 12 month ending Oct 2023, with minimum 20 listings.

For units, Durack in south west Brisbane and Belrose in north west Sydney were sought out most by buyers with 58 and 52 key enquiries per listing respectively.

There was strong demand for Graceville and Gymea Bay units too. On average, each listed property received 44 key enquiries per listing.

What's driving demand?

While rising interest rates led to falling home prices throughout 2022, prices have reversed their losses and hit new peaks.

This can be attributed to a few factors.

The rental market has become extremely tight over the past two years. Rents have surged due to strong competition leading many people to shift to the buy market.

The shift in sentiment among buyers following recent gains in home values and a slowdown in interest rate hikes has also pushed up demand for properties.

Although the number of new listings has improved in recent months, housing stock remains limited. The delay in the construction of new homes is only adding to these supply shortfalls.

This heightened level of demand combined with the tightness in supply is driving up the price of homes.

Belrose in North West Sydney was one of the most in-demand suburbs for units. Picture: Getty

Despite the potential for renewed interest rates hikes to decelerate the growth in the market, we expect prices to continue their upward trend as a result of these supply and demand dynamics.

More insights from the expert team at PropTrack

Originally published at: https://www.realestate.com.au/insights/the-suburbs-where-demand-is-the-highest-among-buyers/

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