New research has identified Australia’s strongest “undercover” property markets, with regions in Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia quietly delivering some of the nation’s best capital growth over the past five years.
Hotspotting Director Terry Ryder, author of the upcoming book Why Property Values Rise, said too many buyers remain fixated on outdated investment myths.
“Some of the oldest, and most inaccurate, beliefs about prices refuse to die,” Mr Ryder said. “These are all classic pieces of misinformation because research ridicules all of them.”
He noted that contrary to long-held views, smaller cities, regional areas, outer-ring suburbs and even attached dwellings have outperformed more expensive blue-chip markets.
Hotspotting’s research shows the top 10 undercover performers include Bundaberg, Fraser Coast, Gympie, Lockyer Valley and South Burnett in Queensland; Geraldton and Kwinana in Western Australia; and Murray Bridge, Playford and Port Pirie in South Australia.
“These are all affordable locations, some of which have been stigmatised because of crime rates, demographics, or flood risks,” Mr Ryder said.
“But the results have been extraordinary for buyers who understood the fundamentals and looked past outdated real estate investment tropes.”
Among the standout results, Geraldton’s downmarket suburbs recorded extraordinary annual averages, including Rangeway at 38 per cent, while Playford in Adelaide’s north saw nine suburbs averaging more than 20 per cent growth each year.
Mr Ryder said buyers often obsess over issues that don’t correlate with growth.
“One of the great furphies in real estate is that areas with above-average crime rates are bad places to invest. I’ve always thought this was wobbly thinking and a case of real estate snobs trying to justify an attitude,” he said.
The findings underpin Mr Ryder’s central argument that affordability and demand, not prestige or proximity to the CBD, drive performance.
“The reality that the downmarket areas are the best performers is a win-win-win situation for buyers at the affordable end of the market – cheaper prices, higher rental yields and superior capital growth,” he said.
