Australia’s Housing Crisis Just Became Deeply Personal
Hotspotting
Anthony Albanese’s housing debate has become deeply personal. The Prime Minister built significant wealth through Australian real estate, benefiting from the same property tax settings his government now wants to change. So what does that mean for investors, housing affordability and the future of negative gearing? In this episode, we unpack the political fallout, the growing investor concerns and whether proposed reforms could reduce rental supply and push property ownership even further out of reach for younger Australians. From negative gearing and capital gains tax to migration,...
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Why Hotspotting’s Best Buys Report Keeps Finding Winning Markets
Hotspotting
How accurate are property market forecasts when tested against real results? In this episode, Hotspotting revisits the March 2024 National Top 10 Best Buys Report to examine how its recommended Australian property markets have performed over the past two years. The results reveal strong capital growth across key locations, with standout performers delivering exceptional returns and validating the research signals that identified these markets early. We unpack the data, highlight the top performing regions, and explain the market indicators smart property investors should watch when identifying...
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How Media Distorts Property Data And Misguides Investors
Hotspotting
Most coverage of the Australian property market focuses on headlines, not reality. In this episode, we unpack why mainstream media reporting can significantly distort how buyers, sellers, and investors perceive market conditions. We examine recent housing data from leading sources including Domain, Cotality, and PropTrack, revealing a more nuanced picture of Australia’s real estate performance. While media narratives often emphasise short-term weakness, the broader data shows widespread growth across capital city and regional markets, particularly in house and unit price trends over recent...
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Australia’s Rental Shortage Has Reached Breaking Point
Hotspotting
Australia’s rental crisis is deepening, but the real story goes far beyond rising rents and low vacancy rates. In this episode, we unpack the structural forces driving Australia’s worsening rental shortage — from policy decisions at state and federal level, to rising costs of property ownership, and the unintended consequences shaping investor behaviour and housing supply. With vacancy rates at critically low levels across most capital cities, and affordability deteriorating for tenants nationwide, the data reveals a market under sustained and growing pressure. We explore why...
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Australia’s Best Performing Property Markets Revealed By The Pulse
Hotspotting
What if the strongest property investment opportunities could be identified before the market surge? In this episode, we unpack the standout results from The Pulse and reveal how Hotspotting’s market analysis identified 50 Australian locations that went on to deliver exceptional performance over the past two years. With every market recording positive capital growth, average gains of 41%, and top performers climbing as high as 78%, this episode explores the data, trends and market fundamentals driving these remarkable outcomes. We examine the suburbs that delivered the biggest...
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Australia’s Rental Crisis Explained | Supply, Policy & What Happens Next
Hotspotting
With vacancy rates at record lows and rents consuming more household income than ever… is Australia’s rental crisis getting worse? In this episode of The Property Playbook, host Tim Graham is joined by Terry Ryder, Founder of Hotspotting, to unpack the real drivers behind Australia’s housing shortage — and why the situation continues to deteriorate. With national vacancy rates sitting around 1%, well below the ~3% level considered a balanced market, and more than 3,400 people arriving in Australia every day, the pressure on rental supply is intensifying — and there are no quick fixes...
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The Safe Haven Strategy Australians Trust When Markets Turn
Hotspotting
When global markets turn volatile, where does capital seek safety? In this episode, we explore why Australian property continues to demonstrate resilience amid economic uncertainty, share market swings, and geopolitical disruption. Drawing on historical cycles including the dotcom crash, the Global Financial Crisis, and COVID, we examine a consistent theme: while equities react sharply to global events, Australian real estate remains underpinned by structural demand, limited supply, and long term fundamentals. We unpack the key drivers shaping the market today, including population...
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The Myths Driving Australia’s Property Narrative And What The Data Shows
Hotspotting
Australia’s housing crisis continues to dominate headlines, political debate and public discourse, yet meaningful progress remains elusive. In this episode, we take a clear, evidence-based look at why decades of inquiries, policy interventions and commentary have failed to materially improve housing affordability, supply and rental conditions across the country. We unpack the structural drivers behind the shortage of dwellings, the persistent rise in construction costs and build times, and the disconnect between policy narratives and market realities. The discussion also challenges widely...
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Why The RBA Rise Is Kindergarten Economics and Grossly Unfair
Hotspotting
Are interest rate hikes really fixing inflation—or just shifting the pain? In this episode, we take a hard look at the latest move by the Reserve Bank of Australia and unpack why raising rates may be a blunt, outdated response to a complex economic problem. With the cash rate climbing to 4.10% under Governor Michele Bullock, we examine who actually bears the cost—and why mortgage holders continue to carry the heaviest load. Drawing on economic data and policy insights, we explore the real drivers of inflation in Australia, from energy prices and housing supply to government spending...
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The Supply Crisis Keeping Australia’s Property Market Under Pressure
Hotspotting
Australia’s property market is under pressure like never before. Listings are low, vacancies are tight, and new supply is failing to meet demand. Why are prices and rents continuing to rise despite government interventions? In this episode, we cut through the headlines to uncover the real drivers of the housing crunch. From shrinking rental stock to a stalled construction pipeline, we explore the structural challenges shaping the market and what it means for buyers, renters, and investors. Tune in for expert insights, data-backed analysis, and a clear view of why scarcity is the true force...
info_outlineThe biggest paradigm-changing trend in Australian real estate, the rise and rise of apartments, is confirmed by the latest price data from the usual suspects – and is reflected in our choices for the latest edition of our most popular report, the National Top 10 Best Buys report.
The latest price data from CoreLogic shows that unit prices are rising faster than house prices.
While news media, in its predictable fashion, focussed on the perceived negatives in the CoreLogic Home Value Index published in October, my analysis of the figures is that they provide further evidence that rising demand for attached dwellings is creating out-performance on price growth.
Perth still leads on growth in house prices, but the numbers for growth in unit prices are considerably stronger, both for the past month, the past quarter and the year to date.
According to CoreLogic, Perth prices rose 1.6% in September for houses but 2% for units.
In the September quarter, Perth house prices increased 4.6% but unit prices were up 6.2%.
And, for the first nine months of 2024, house prices are up 17% but unit prices more than 20%.
It’s the same for one of the other hot city markets, Adelaide.
House prices in Adelaide has recorded strong rises in the month of September, the September Quarter and the year to date, but unit prices have increased more in each of those time frames.
The price outcomes are even more emphatic in Brisbane: house prices rose 2.4% in the September Quarter, but unit prices rose 4.8%, exactly twice as much. And the year to date growth numbers are 10% for houses but 14% for units.
In both Sydney and Melbourne, which have not been matching the smaller cities on growth, the numbers are nevertheless stronger for units than for houses.
And nationally, median prices grew 0.4% for houses but 0.6% for units in September, while in the September Quarter houses were up 1% but units 1.2%.
The differential is greatest in the Combined Regional markets, with units outperforming houses in the month, the quarter, the year to date and in the past 12 months.
And that holds true for most of the individual state regional markets, notably Western Australia, New South Wales and South Australia. In Regional Queensland, where many regional cities have highly active markets, the numbers are fairly even.
Overall, these numbers are the latest piece of evidence that the old paradigm of real estate, that houses always outperform units on capital growth, is changing and in many locations HAS changed.
As we comment in the report we recently published with marketing company Nuestar, the one we call The Rise and Rise of Apartments, there is growing buyer demand for attached dwellings across Australia.
Units now accounts for more than half of all sales in the Sydney market and they have a growing market share in Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra as well.
In the booming Perth market, where houses are no longer the cheapest in capital city Australia following massive price growth recently, more and more buyers are pivoting to the more affordable and often better located unit products in the market.
And now this compelling trend in national real estate is a big influence on our choices to the nominated locations for the new edition of the National Top 10 Best Buys.
Many of the nation’s strongest locations for unit demand are prominent in this report – as well as some of the most vibrant house markets in key locations across Australia.