Buderim tops the most searched suburbs by home buyers
The COVID-19 pandemic put a damper on property search activity in Australia early in 2020, but since then the health crisis has proven to be a major conduit for homebuyer demand.
Director of economic research at realestate.com.au Cameron Kusher said a number of COVID-led conditions have spiked people’s interest in purchasing property over the past year.
“Since lockdowns eased and mortgage borrowing costs were reduced to historic lows, there has been a significant jump in demand. Low borrowing costs, restrictions on travel and the ability to work remotely have probably been the three biggest factors in driving this surge,” Mr Kusher said.
A new metric developed exclusively by realestate.com.au now shows exactly how many ‘highly-engaged’ buyers are looking at a given suburb, offering a clearer picture of demand.
A highly-engaged or serious buyer is someone who is likely close to making a purchase, based on their activity on realestate.com.au. This activity includes returning to a listing multiple times, looking at floorplans, emailing or calling the agent, scheduling an appointment as well as a raft of other high-intent actions.
House hunters do love to be beside the seaside
Data showing the most popular suburbs for serious homebuyers in the 12 months to February 2021 illustrates a strong preference for lifestyle factors, including more space and beachside living.
Mr Kusher credited the “COVID-effect” for this shift in homebuyer desires.
“Demand has shifted to outer and near capital city markets over the past year as people are much more interested in lifestyle and space as opposed to historically, where the focus has been proximity to work,” he explained.
“With flexible working arrangements, meaning people don’t have to be in the office every day, demand has shifted to these areas.”
Australia's most in-demand suburbs
Select a state below.
| The urban centre of Buderim, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, was the most in-demand suburb for houses nationally, with 42,355 highly-engaged buyers looking at properties there over the past year. It was followed by Berwick (41,481 highly-engaged buyers), about 40km south-east of Melbourne, and Kellyville (37,371) in Sydney’s Hills district. Five of the top 10 most in-demand suburbs nationally were located in Melbourne’s Mornington Peninsula region: Mount Martha (34,874), Frankston (34,355), Mount Eliza (32,084), Mornington (31,843) and Rye (31,305). Director of Bonaccorde Property Services – Mount Martha Amanda Haimona said they have seen a huge increase in city buyers. |
 |
“We’re still seeing current residents trying to upsize and downsize in the same suburb, but mostly the competition is coming from town,” Ms Haimona said.
“We have seen huge demand from buyers looking to relocate permanently; that’s to a large degree to do with the fact they’ve got more flexibility with their workplaces, but it’s also people appreciating more serenity and additional space, because we’ve got bigger blocks, bigger allotments and lovely walks down here.”
Ms Haimona said there has also been a large increase in interest from holiday-home buyers who don’t anticipate a lot of opportunity to travel far and wide in the coming years.
She added that low interest rates have allowed people to increase their budgets, which has been necessary in such a competitive market.
“Sadly, out of a health crisis for everybody, it has been a very positive time [for the Mornington Peninsula property market].”
Capital city unit markets are far from ghost towns
Demand for units was most prevalent in inner city suburbs, which Mr Kusher explained was more of a function of supply.
“A lot of outer capital city and regional markets don’t actually have a substantial supply of units, they are only located in specific locations of the country so that is why we are seeing stronger demand in these areas,” he said.
Melbourne (52,005) was the most in-demand suburb for units nationally, followed by Surfers Paradise (40,938) – known for its bountiful supply of high-rise holiday apartments – which was the only non-capital city market to make the list of top 10 suburbs.
Owner of Ray White Surfers Paradise Group Andrew Bell said the “southern migration” from Victoria and New South Wales is pushing up demand for units in Surfers Paradise.
“More and more southerners are choosing to move north, triggered by COVID,” Mr Bell said.
“During COVID, we were actually selling the great majority of apartments sight unseen, even with tenants in them.”
He said the number of apartments for sale in the holiday hotspot is now extremely low.
“There was an enormous soaking up of any stock that was available [in 2020] and now there’s a reluctance for many people to even sell because they want somewhere to escape to if there is another pandemic situation.”
Victorian suburbs dominated the list of top 10 most in-demand areas for both houses and units nationally.
“Demand in Victoria is currently very strong, as are sales volumes,” Mr Kusher said.
“This is seemingly a catch-up from the extended lockdowns across the state last year, which paused many buyers from making a move and has unleashed very strong demand for housing early in 2021.”
He added that demand for both units and houses in capital city markets will likely increase in the coming months, as the COVID vaccines are rolled out and work life returns to pre-COVID conditions.
“As things return to normal there is going to be a desire to own property in capital cities given low borrowing costs, and even from investors some of the yields on offer are quite desirable,” he explained.
“Of course, one thing to watch will be a potential hole in first-home buyer demand as HomeBuilder comes to an end on 31 March 2021.”
