‘Hot property’: Affordable suburbs where homes are snapped up in days

The property market is gearing up for a turbocharged spring selling season off the back of interest rate cuts, but in some suburbs homes are already being snapped up rapidly.

PropTrack data shows that in the suburbs where homes sell quickest, properties barely last a week on the market.

Rapid selling times indicate that homes in these areas are in very high demand, with properties typically receiving multiple offers very soon after being listed

The data measures the median number of days a property is on the market before being sold. 

If days on market are low, it means demand for properties is high and homes are being sold quickly as a result.

If days on market are high, it means it takes longer to find a buyer, potentially due to factors such as an abundance of properties on the market or lower demand for homes in the area.

REA Group executive manager of economics Angus Moore said the time it takes a home to sell is a good benchmark for how competitive a market is.

“It captures both how much demand there is for homes, but also the availability of homes for buyers to choose from,” he said.

“When homes are selling quicker, it suggests there’s more buyers for any given home, and more competitive conditions. It doesn’t always perfectly correlate, but it’s a useful summary measure.”

Where properties sell within a week

The data shows that one city is topping the charts for the lowest days on market, with homes in some suburbs sold within a week of being listed.

Homes in suburbs of Townsville are selling faster than anywhere else, with hot suburbs Condon topping the charts for houses (9 days) and Douglas coming out on top for units (7 days).

Townsville has been one of the most in-demand housing markets in the country, with homes selling quickly even after faster price growth than anywhere else in Australia.

The city has been inundated by southern buyers heading north, with investors seeking affordable properties with high rental yields and competing with local first-home buyers looking to get into the market.

Mr Moore said Townsville’s rapid price growth had made it the fastest growing region in Australia this year, with prices having doubled since the pandemic.

“That’s obviously made affordability far more challenging,” he said. “Given that, that pace of growth is going to be hard to sustain,” he said.

Homes snapped up in affordable pockets

In Sydney, houses are selling fastest in the Penrith and Macarthur regions – two affordable pockets of the city’s west where properties are typically much less expensive than the rest of the city.

In Jamisontown and Werrington County, near Penrith, houses typically last just 12 days on the market before being sold, while in Eagle Vale, Raby, St Helens Park and Ruse in the south west, houses are sold in between 14 and 17 days.

Real estate agent Jasmyn Calgaro of Ray White Nepean Group said Jamisontown and South Penrith were in demand, with first-home buyers and local upsizing families keen to buy homes quickly.

“Properties don’t come up that often but when they do they’re very popular.” she said. 

“A lot of people are opting for older houses with more land. It’s definitely good value for money.”

House prices rose 6% in Jamisontown and 11% in South Penrith in the past year, PropTrack data shows.

The Melbourne suburbs where homes sell fastest were mostly located in the city’s outer southwest, including Carrum Downs, Frankston North and Narre Warren.

In these affordable hotspots, first-home buyers have been competing with investors for properties priced below the $750,000 mark.

Real estate agent Michelle Stephens of OBrien Real Estate Carrum Downs said the area’s affordability had put it on the map for first-home buyers priced out of suburbs closer to the city, as well as interstate investors, mostly from Sydney, Brisbane and Perth.

“For a long time a lot of people hadn’t heard of Carrum Downs,” she said. “But we’re finding it’s quite hot property at the moment.”

“You’re getting really good rental returns, and also days on market for the rental market are quite low as well.”

Melbourne’s improved affordability relative to the other cities has encouraged more investors to search for properties in the city’s outer suburbs, where homes are typically cheaper.

Price growth in Melbourne has lagged behind the other capitals in recent years, and with prices having risen rapidly in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, interstate investors are starting to see opportunities in the Victorian capital.

Mr Moore said housing affordability was at its worst level on record as a result of rapid interest rate rises coupled with strong price growth, and buyers were looking at areas where homes could be purchased for less.

“Affordable parts of Australia have been popular in recent years given the very challenging levels affordability is at,” he said.

Where homes are now selling quicker

The biggest reductions in days on market were mostly seen across regional Australia, including suburbs of Geelong, Bendigo and Mildura in Victoria and Bundaberg and Gladstone in QLD.

Houses are selling quicker in Melbourne suburbs such as Yarraville, Burnside and Aintree, while in Perth pricier suburbs such as Wembley Downs and Mount Lawley had the biggest reductions in days on market.

In Hobart, houses are selling twice as fast as a year ago Austins Ferry, Rosetta and Geilston Bay.

Demand for homes in Hobart has increased lately after a slower period in the market following interest rate hikes in 2022, with those homes on the market previously taking longer to sell.

Mr Moore said Tasmania’s property market was recovering, but prices were still below the peak reached a few years ago.

“Conditions since 2022 have been softer in Tasmania, following a big boom in home prices during the pandemic — and in the years leading up to it — that pushed Tassie to being one of the least affordable states in the country,” he said.

“Prices have started to recover since around early 2024, but are still yet to get back to where they were in early 2022.”

Units in focus after big rise in house values

While homes in many Perth suburbs are still selling in as little as two weeks or less, days on market have risen considerably in some parts of the city.

In the outer south east, homes in sought-after affordable suburbs were selling in as little as seven days a year ago, with prices rising rapidly as a result.

But with some heat coming out of the market as properties become less affordable, many interstate investors have moved on and days on market have normalised.

Other buyers have switched focus to units, with days on market declining in many inner Perth suburbs.

Real estate agent and Acton Belle Property Mount Lawley director Chris Pham said more buyers were opting to purchase units to get into desirable and pricey inner suburbs.

“It’s a premium location for people to live, and apartments are quite attractive for young professionals,” he said. 

“Stock levels are very low, which is pushing up prices and pulling down days on market.”

Days on market have trended up in many Brisbane suburbs, which comes after a huge run-up in prices over the past few years.

Mr Moore said Brisbane and Perth have been very competitive markets for the past few years, and prices have grown quickly as a result. 

“Even since the RBA started raising rates, prices are up 33% in Brisbane and 49% in Perth,” he said.

“Price growth has started to slow down this year though, and it looks like conditions may be starting to cool, at least a little, as affordability constraints start to bite.”

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