Approvals V Construction
Hotspotting
Two very different headlines have summed up the problems for Australia’s ongoing housing shortage. One of the recent media headlines declared that building approvals were at a two-year high and that things were improving for the nation’s housing shortage. The other described why building approvals are almost irrelevant – it said that project deferrals are occurring at a record rate. The reality of the current crisis is this: it doesn’t matter how many houses and apartments are approved for construction – and it doesn’t matter how many re-zonings state governments push through...
info_outline
Webinar Replay: Reflections & Projections - A Deep Dive into Real Estate Trends & Forecasts
Hotspotting
In this insightful webinar, Terry Ryder, founder of Hotspotting, and Tim Graham, Hotspotting’s General Manager, analyze the surprises and trends of 2024 in the Australian property market and share their projections for 2025. With decades of combined experience, they provide investors with actionable advice on navigating the coming year. Key Highlights 2024 in Review Defying Predictions: Despite high interest rates and inflationary pressures, property prices rose by an average of 5.53% nationally in 2024. Perth led with an astonishing 18.7% growth, followed by regional Western Australia,...
info_outline
Best Buys Result
Hotspotting
You don’t have to be super rich or invest $1 million to make big capital gains in residential real estate: you just need to follow Hotspotting’s signature report, the National Top 10 Best Buys report. Those who followed the tips in our report of a year ago could have made close to $100,000 in capital gains spending as little as $400,000 – or $180,000 in gains after investing $630,000. In December 2023 we published our National Top Best Buys reports for Summer 2023-34. Our top 10 locations for investors to consider covered a wide range of price points, from less than $300,000 and above $1...
info_outline
Listings Rise
Hotspotting
The greatest complaint heard most often in real estate across Australia is that there are plenty of buyers, but a shortage of listings. The number of properties for sale has been well short of the levels needed for a balanced market, particularly in the boom cities of Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. But that is steadily changing. According to SQM Research, total listings of properties for sale nationwide grew 7.6% in November and are now more than 10% higher than a year ago. Perhaps most significantly, there were major rises in November in those three boom cities, with the...
info_outline
Media Absurdities
Hotspotting
Things are constantly changing in real estate nationwide but the one factor that never changes is this: we can always rely on news media to distort the facts and deliver a steady flow of misinformation to Australian consumers, all in the interests of attracting readership, with little regard for accuracy, honesty or fairness. The past week or so has been chockful of media nonsense. If you can believe the headlines, the national property boom is over, house prices are plunging, the rental boom is over and the North Queensland city of Townsville is a mining town. One of the constants of my...
info_outline
2025 Predictions
Hotspotting
Rumours of the death of ‘the national property boom’ are greatly exaggerated – especially since we didn’t have a national property boom in 2024. Rather, over the past 12 months, we have seen differing market cycles in many locations - as is the usual state of play in real estate throughout Australia. Strong property price growth was recorded in Perth, Adelaide, and Brisbane in 2024, but not in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Darwin or Hobart. Similarly, in the regional areas, there were declining and stagnating markets, as well as some where prices were showing good price...
info_outline
Regional Investment Boom
Hotspotting
Victoria’s real estate market is witnessing a significant shift as young first-home buyers increasingly seek affordable housing in regional areas. According to recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), first-home buyer loans in Victoria soared to 4,202 in July – the highest number in nearly two years. This surge reflects growing confidence among young buyers and a trend towards exploring housing options beyond Melbourne. Nationally, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and the Regional Australia Institute report that the flow of people from cities...
info_outline
Units Beat Houses
Hotspotting
Hotspotting was among the first to identify and highlight the most significant change in the Australian real estate scene – the emerging trend which we document in the quarterly editions of the report titled The Rise and Rise of Apartments., published in association with Nuestar. This trend has turned upside down the dominant paradigm in real estate, that houses out-perform apartments on capital growth. There is now growing evidence that attached dwellings are mounting a strong challenge to houses. It has long been believed that land content was the big thing in driving...
info_outline
Why a Buyer’s Agent Is a Game-Changer for Property Investors | Featuring Chris Graham
Hotspotting
Thinking of buying property on your own? 🏡 In this episode of The Property Playbook, host Terry Ryder is joined by Chris Graham, Senior Property Advisor at Australian Hotspot Advocacy, to explore why engaging a buyer’s agent could be the key to securing your next winning investment. What You'll Learn: What a buyer’s agent does and how they work exclusively for the buyer’s interests. The value of off-market properties and how buyer’s agents can provide access. Why having a professional on your team ensures due diligence and avoids costly mistakes. How to identify a trustworthy...
info_outline
Melbourne Market Myths
Hotspotting
Melbourne’s property market remains the great under-achiever of the nation but that may be about to change. A number of key indicators suggest better performance by the Melbourne property market is imminent. One pointer to better times is the latest Property Sentiment survey by API magazine, which recorded a major turnaround in investor attitudes towards the Victorian property market. The survey asked: Which state or territory do you regard as having the best property investment prospects for the next 12 months? Mid-year Melbourne and Victoria attracted only 8.6...
info_outlineAdelaide’s property market, one of the nation’s strongest in the past two years, has strengthened further recently.
ales volumes shows that market activity in the June quarter was the highest for Greater Adelaide since mid-2022.
The June Quarter sales levels represented a 25% increase on the March Quarter and were 10% higher than the same time last year.
This is despite the reality that listings of homes for sale across Adelaide are the lowest at any time in the past 15 years, according to SQM Research figures.
This continues Adelaide’s track record as a market with consistently high performance and helps to explain why it has been a challenger to Perth as the market with the highest price growth in the past two years.
Adelaide’s median house price rose 15% in the 12 months to August 2024, while the median unit price increased 12%, according to PropTrack data.
Only Perth has recorded higher annual price growth.
Across the Greater Adelaide market, suburbs with positive trends with sales activity outnumber those with negative ones by a factor of three to one.
The Greater Adelaide area has standout markets across all price ranges, including affordable municipalities like Playford and Salisbury, middle market areas including Marion and West Torrens, and more upmarket locations such as the Unley, Holdfast Bay and Charles Sturt LGAs.
The Playford LGA, which contains Adelaide’s cheapest suburbs, is the most popular precinct for buyers, with over 800 dwelling sales in the June Quarter. That was 31% higher than the same time last year – and a 53% increase on the March Quarter.
Most Playford suburbs have positive sales trends, either rising or consistent, with Blakeview and Davoren Park in particular standing out for their consistent buyer demand. The median house price for Blakeview has risen 16% to $550,000 in the past 12 months, while Davoren Park is up 33% to $440,000.
Davoren Park had a median house price of just $175,000 three years ago.
The neighbouring Salisbury LGA, another precinct targeted for its affordable homes, is also a strong performer with sales levels considerably higher than the March Quarter and also the same time in 2023. Rising markets in the City of Salisbury are headed by standout suburbs like Ingle Farm and Mawson Lakes.
The median house price for Ingle Farm was $380,000 three years ago and is now $655,000, after 19% growth in the past 12 months.
Another outer-ring location with outstanding numbers is the Mount Barker LGA, which has recorded the highest quarterly sales numbers in more than three years. The suburbs with strongly rising sales activity include Nairne and Mount Barker. Nairne’s median house price has risen 17% to $750,000 in the past 12 months.
Among the middle market areas, the West Torrens LGA is a notable performer with a significant increase in sales activity in the June Quarter – the highest levels since late in 2021. There are no suburbs with negative trends in West Torrens, while rising markets are headed by Underdale, Torrensville, Plympton and Fulham.
The Port-Adelaide Enfield LGA has numerous suburbs with positive ratings, with sales activity overall much higher in the June Quarter compared to the March Quarter and the same time last year. Notable rising markets include Lightsview and Blair Athol.
The City of Marion has recorded its highest quarterly sales numbers since mid-2022 in a market dominated by suburbs with positive sales trends, including rising suburbs Warradale, Hallett Cove and Edwardstown. The median house price for Hallett Cove has risen from $470,000 to $800,000 in the past four years.
Some of Adelaide’s more upmarket precincts are also travelling well. Ten of the suburbs in the Charles Sturt LGA are ranked as rising markets, headed by Flinders Park, Findon and Bowden.
Sales activity has been rising steadily in the Holdfast Bay municipality in the past four quarters. A standout feature is that the unit markets in both Glenelg and Glenelg North are classified as rising markets in our latest analysis.
The upmarket City of Unley has a particularly strong June Quarter, with sales numbers up almost 50% on the March Quarter. Rising suburbs include Parkside (median house price $1.3 million), Clarence Park ($1.27 million) and Myrtle Bank ($1.6 million).
The overall conclusion is that the Adelaide market continues to pump strongly and is likely to be a national market leader on price growth for the foreseeable future.