Homeowners in these affordable suburbs have doubled their money in 10 years by capitalising on major trends defining the property market.
Analysis of PropTrack home price data shows there are 77 suburbs across Australia where homes typically cost less than $500,000 a decade ago, but it now takes at least $1 million to buy in.
These suburbs have had a huge run of growth in the past 10 years, with values booming off the back of key trends driving home price growth across what were once some of the most affordable suburbs in the nation.
A decade-long surge in demand has transformed these suburbs into million-dollar markets, with prices in some areas more than tripling in that time.
The data examines suburbs that had a median house or unit price of less than $500,000 in the 12 months to August 2015, but now have a median price of more than $1 million.
Of the 77 Australian suburbs that fit this description, 48 were found in Queensland, one of the nation’s strongest housing markets in recent years.
Jump ahead to the full list of suburbs:
Suburbs of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast dominated the list, which was mostly made up of suburbs outside the capitals.
REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh said the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast have been some of the top performing regions in recent years.
“These regions benefited from strong population inflows, from both interstate migration and international arrivals,” she said.
“Limited new supply in many coastal suburbs has constrained availability of housing, leading to demand well outpacing the supply of homes for sale.”
Ms Creagh said the affordability of these regions relative to the pricier capitals of Sydney and Melbourne had drawn buyers north, compounded by the flight towards lifestyle-oriented locations throughout the pandemic.
“Together, these forces have transformed once-affordable suburbs into million-dollar markets, with demand driven both by the lifestyle benefits these areas offer and by their investment appeal.”
Real estate agent and PRD Coolangatta Tweed principal Jason Abbott said while the pandemic boom drove most of the price uplift in the region, demand for units from a range of buyers was supporting further growth.
“The area is still affordable compared to some other parts of the Gold coast,” he said. “It still suits first-home buyers, investors and downsizers.”
The median unit price in Coolangatta rose from $450,000 in 2015 to $1,050,000 today.
“Stock is still tight, and demand is pretty strong,” Mr Abbott said.
There were 19 once-affordable suburbs of Brisbane that are now million-dollar postcodes, including Hemmant and Tingalpa in the east, Coopers Plains in the south and Geebung and Scarborough in the north.
NSW had 18 suburbs where prices boomed from sub-$500,000 to $1 million-plus in a decade.
But only one Sydney suburb fits this description — Oakdale, on the outer south western fringe.
Sydney’s high property prices mean that even a decade ago, there were few suburbs with median prices below $500,000, and these were mostly on the Central Coast or in the outer west.
While prices in many of these more-affordable suburbs have grown strongly, values are yet to crack the $1 million mark.
Instead, it was mostly affordable coastal suburbs prized for proximity to the beach where prices surged the most in the past decade, reflecting similar trends seen in Queensland.
Ms Creagh said affordability had already drawn buyers to these regions before the pandemic, but remote work trends accelerated population shifts towards regional areas, and helped push up prices as a result.
“The pandemic compressed several years of treechange demand into a very short period, pushing many of these markets over the million-dollar threshold sooner than would otherwise have occurred,” she said.
Real estate agent Kate Wise of Ray White Ulladulla said although buying in suburbs such as Narrawallee and Mollymook Beach had cooled a little since the pandemic boom, the region was still attracting lots of city buyers.
“Most of our buyers come from Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra,” she said. “A lot of people are selling up and getting really good prices, and are able to purchase down here for a slower lifestyle with some money left over.”
Seven suburbs in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie region jumped from affordable pockets to million-dollar markets, reflecting the changing face of the port city.
“Newcastle has transitioned from an industrial base to a diversified economy anchored in health, education, and professional services, making it more resilient and attractive for families,” Ms Creagh said.
Much like Sydney, most of the Melbourne suburbs with sub-$500,000 price points 10 years ago are yet to break the $1 million barrier, with stronger growth in regional Victoria than in the city.
While Perth’s property market has been one of the nation’s strongest in recent years, with particularly high demand at the affordable end of the market, there were no suburbs in Western Australia where prices grew from below $500,000 in 2015 to above $1 million today.
Ms Creagh said this was partly due to values in Perth declining off a cyclical peak for most of the past decade before the recent boom.
“In WA, the state’s housing market was coming off the back of a mining boom peak in 2014, with subdued conditions for much of the decade as prices stagnated,” she said.
“The recent surge in Perth has been significant, with five-year gains above 90%, but it has lifted suburbs from low bases into the $600k-$900k range rather than past the $1 million threshold.”
Read more on Real Estate Australia
