Buying boom: 60 suburbs where property sales have surged

Rising property markets have triggered a selling spree in some unexpected suburbs, with buyers snapping up homes as homeowners take advantage of increasing prices.

New PropTrack data shows that in some suburbs, up to three times as many properties were sold in the past year compared to the prior 12 month period.

The biggest increases in property sales were recorded in property markets staging a major turnaround, especially Darwin.

The Northern Territory capital has experienced an influx of investor interest this year as buyers search for the next market to boom.

Investor lending in the NT surged to a record high this year, driven by a wave of interstate buyers seeking high-yielding properties in areas where price growth is likely to outperform.

That interest has triggered a rapid rise in property prices, with Darwin’s median home price up by about 14% in the past year – a rate of growth that’s now on par with Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, Australia’s top-performing capitals in the past few years.

REA Group executive manager of economics Angus Moore said Darwin’s property market has been strong in 2025, with a very high level of investor activity.

“The share of new loans going to investors is at a record high in the NT, and the number of new investor loans is twice its previous peak,” he said.

Top 30 suburbs where the number of house sales has increased the most

In suburbs such as Moulden, Driver and Gray, almost three times as many houses were sold in the past year compared to the previous 12 months.

Real estate agent and Monsoon Real Estate principal Joshua Pucci said the number of homes selling in these suburbs had surged as a result of strong investor interest and resulting price growth.

“Those three suburbs were the cheapest Darwin suburbs to invest in,” he said. “They spent the past 15 years not moving much at all.”

“There were a lot of people that bought their first home there but haven’t been able to sell them for a long time because the growth has been pretty stagnant.”

However, the explosion in investor demand changed everything, resulting in annual price growth of between 16% and 19% amid a flurry of sales as homeowners took advantage of the rising market.

“There was an influx of people wanting to exit those markets and upsize,” Mr Pucci said.

Several Adelaide suburbs also recorded a surge in sales, including Fulham Gardens (up 111%), Prospect (up 102%), Plympton (up 92%) and West Lakes (up 81%).

Despite much higher numbers of properties selling than a year ago, price growth in these suburbs remains on par with Adelaide overall.

There were also big increases in sales in pockets of regional Victoria, including Loch Sport in the Gippsland region (up 117%) and East Bendigo (up 97%).

Norlane in Geelong had 302 house sales in the past year, compared with just 131 the year prior, which real estate agent and Barry Plant South Barwon managing director Chari Emirzade said was a result of more buyers being drawn to the suburb’s affordability.

“The area has been really popular in the past year with investors from Sydney and Brisbane,” he said.

“In addition to that, a lot of first-home buyers from Melbourne and Geelong have started to buy in Norlane.”

In Melbourne, Campbellfield had the largest jump in sales (up 84%), with transactions also increasing significantly in Oakleigh East, Olinda and Heidelberg.

There were between 45% and 50% more houses sold in more-affordable suburbs in Sydney’s west such as Hebersham, Dean Park and Acacia Gardens.

Top 30 suburbs where the number of unit sales has increased the most

In the unit market, Northern Territory suburbs such as Darwin City, Rosebery and Rapid Creek had far more properties selling in the past year compared to previous 12 months.

Meanwhile, the Canberra suburbs of Belconnen, Campbell and Wright recorded more than twice as many units sales in the past year as the year prior.

These suburbs have had high levels of apartment development in recent years, with recently built units accounting for many of the sales in the past year.

Real estate agent Alex Wang of Archer Canberra said Belconnen’s affordability appealed to first-home buyers and investors, as well as downsizers drawn to larger two and three-bedroom units.

“Last year was a totally different market,” he said. “This year interest rates went down so we can see more investors and more buyers coming into the market because of that.”

Mr Moore said activity was beginning to pick up in Australia’s biggest property markets amid rising prices following interest rate cuts.

“We’ve been seeing very busy activity in property markets in Sydney and Melbourne this year, supported by fairly solid conditions in housing markets and consistent steady growth in home prices,” he said.

“Home prices in Melbourne have been quite soft in recent years and 2025 is really the first time we’ve seen consistent growth since the RBA started raising rates in early 2022.”

The latest REA Group Listings Report shows that while the number of new listings jumped in October in Sydney and Melbourne, new listings declined in Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane.

Mr Moore said this lack of new supply coming to market was one of the factors supporting price growth in those cities.

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