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.
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.
| 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 |
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.
| 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 |
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.
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.
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.
