New South Wales suburbs have dominated the top five spots in a new list of Australia’s best family housing markets.
The research, commission by Well Home Loans, identifies the top 20 suburbs for families, with the NSW suburb of Horningsea Park coming out on top.
Doug Vukojcic, property adviser for United Agents Property Group at Carnes Hill said the result was no surprise to him.
“It’s a very handy position, and close to sought after schools,” Mr Vukojcic said.
“You’re five minutes from the railway station, and the local shopping centre only five minutes walk.
“There are lots of parks in the area, which does make it desirable for family living.”
Mr Vukojcic said Horningsea Park was also reasonably affordable, attracting both first and second home buyers.
“It’s a pretty quiet location, and only just off the Hume Highway, which is easy access to all the major roads, even the M7, M5 are close by.
“It’s virtually only half an hour from the city once you jump on.”
The top 10 was rounded out with suburbs from Victoria, Western Australian and the Northern Territory, with the NT suburb of Marlow Lagoon taking out second place.
Local agent, Andrew Harding of Real Estate Central, Darwin City, said Marlow Lagoon was a semi-rural part of Palmerston.
“It’s a great location and with everything that’s happening with COVID-19 at the moment, we are seeing a lot of buyers upsizing from the suburbs to the one to five acre properties at Marlow Lagoon, which is that affordable section of the market,” he said.
It’s also relatively close to the city.
“There are not many options in Darwin, within 20km to the CBD, where you can have over an acre.
“There are plenty of larger family homes available, and with everything that’s happening at the moment, that’s what everyone is looking for these days.”
According to the report, a ‘family suburb’ is one that meets five key indicators:
- Median sale price between $200,000 and $1.5 million
- Owner-occupiers making up at least 70 per cent of the local population
- Freestanding houses making up at least than 60 per cent of the local dwellings
- Family households making up at least 60 per cent of the local population (with a ‘family household’ being one with at least 2.5 people)
- A SEIFA education and occupation score of at least 6 (which puts it in the top half of the country for educational and occupational status, based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Index of Education and Occupation)The suburbs are then ranked based on historical NAPLAN results for schools in the wider area.
The suburbs are then ranked based on historical NAPLAN results for schools in the wider area.
Well Home Loans Chief Executive Officer Scott Spencer said the family suburb ranking provided valuable information for families that were planning their next purchase.
“Families want to live in suburbs that have lots of other families to socialise with, a high share of owner-occupiers to provide stability and good schools to educate their children,” Mr Spencer said.
“They also want to buy into suburbs that are likely to enjoy reasonable capital growth over the long-term, even if it’s not necessarily market-beating growth.
“The 20 suburbs in this ranking are generally affordable – 14 of them have a median house price under $1 million.
“They’re also quite diverse – there are 13 metro and seven regional markets, spread across seven of the eight states and territories.”
