New research commissioned by OpenLot.com.au has ranked the top 20 suburbs in Australia where renters have the budget to purchase a nearby house-and-land package.
Willow Vale | |||||
To establish the ranking, the research began by filtering out suburbs that were not large enough, were not likely to be in demand, were not affordable and did not have a tight rental market.
Second, the research also filtered out suburbs where a buyer's future mortgage repayments would probably be higher than their current rental commitments.
Third, the research found how many property developments were currently taking place in each suburb’s local area – i.e. the suburb in question and its neighbouring suburbs.
Finally, suburbs were ranked (from highest to lowest) based on how many developments were taking place in their local area.
The result was a small number of suburbs around Australia with desirable and affordable house-and-land package options not too far away.
The top 20 suburbs for the OpenLot.com.au Property Ladder Report were situated in Western Australia (7), Queensland (6), South Australia (6) and Victoria (1). Below is the visualisation for the highlighted suburbs:
OpenLot.com.au founder Qi Chen said this research is timely given the combination of low vacancy rates, falling property prices and government assistance for first home buyers.
“Life is hard for renters right now, given that vacancy rates are very low and rents are rising quickly in many parts of the country. So it’s natural that a lot of people want to leave the rental market and climb onto the property ladder instead,” he said.
“One impediment for first home buyers is that interest rates are rising, which is reducing many people’s borrowing capacity.
“However, property prices are falling in many regions right now. That’s great if you’re a first home buyer, because it lowers your barriers to entry.
“Another reason why now is a good time to be a first home buyer is because there’s plenty of government assistance around. At the federal level, first home buyers can take advantage of the First Home Guarantee and Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, which let people enter the market with a deposit of as little as 5%. Also, various states are offering buyer grants and stamp duty concessions.
“If you’re sick of renting, now might be a great time to step onto the property ladder by purchasing a house-and-land package. There’s a lot of housing construction occurring at the moment, with new developments going live every month.
“OpenLot.com.au is a great resource to help first home buyers watch the market and research house-and-land packages.”
* Rental properties are regarded as ‘officially’ vacant when they’ve been on the market for 21 days or more. When a suburb has a vacancy rate of 0%, it means all rental properties are being filled in less than 21 days of being listed for rent.
** The local area refers to the suburb in question and its neighbouring suburbs. Go to p5-14 for a list of each suburb’s local areas.
