Buyers were out in force in August with the number of highly engaged buyers per listing up 14.5% across the combined capital cities. In Perth, demand was up by 41%.
Now that spring is officially here, where will property seekers set their sights?
Based on email enquiries sent to agents on realestate.com.au in August, first-home buyers were most interested in units in the Melbourne CBD, Parramatta in Sydney, and Brisbane City.
High property prices and the numerous interest rate rises experienced over the previous year have made it more challenging for first-home buyers to afford a property, especially a house.
Of the top 20 suburbs for first-home buyers, 60% had the highest enquiries for units.
The closer the suburb is to the centre of a city, the less affordable properties become, forcing first-home buyers to lower their sights on units rather than houses.
More first-home buyers also enquired about units in South Yarra and St Kilda in Melbourne, and Epping in Sydney.
However, those buyers looking for an affordable house have had to set their sights further away from the city, in suburbs such as Tarneit and Point Cook in Melbourne and Forest Lake in Brisbane.
It is telling that there are no Sydney suburbs on the list for the highest house enquiries, as it is the least affordable of all the major cities, and first-home buyers have been priced out of the market.
In recent months, investors have been returning to the market, although not at levels seen at the start of 2022, when new lending to investors was at its high.
The most in-demand suburb, according to the number of email enquiries was Surfers Paradise, where investors were looking for units. Melbourne and Brisbane City were also top of the list.
For investors, many of the top suburbs were also the same for first-home buyers, suggesting that affordability is important.
However, whereas the top suburbs for first-home buyers were mostly in metro Victoria, for investors, the hotspot is Queensland, where 60% of the top suburbs are situated.
Most of these suburbs are in tourist-heavy regions, such as Broadbeach, Port Douglas, Mooloolaba, and Airlie Beach, suggesting that investors may be looking for properties to put on the short-term rental market.
These suburbs will likely continue being popular throughout spring and the foreseeable future, especially as the cost of buying a house has increased considerably.
