Regional cities with the strongest 20-year growth
Property price growth in Australia’s capital cities commands attention, but one property expert is reminding investors that good value options also exist further afield.
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According to analysis from property market research firm Propertyology, towns like Alice Springs and Goulburn have consistently delivered strong property price growth.
“A regional town with a population of only 23,000 has Australia’s third highest median house price. Other towns with populations as small as 7,000 people have also proven to be far less volatile than Australia’s biggest cities over the past two decades,” Propertyology head of research Simon Pressley said.
“These facts are just a few examples to highlight the gross inaccuracies with people’s perceptions about Australian locations with smallish population sizes – the lifestyle, the real estate opportunities, the risks.”
He said this highlighted how dozens of regional hubs were producing median house price growth that was as strong as that seen in the capitals.
The 7 strongest regional towns
These were the seven towns with the highest average annual median house price growth in the last 20 years.
Alice Springs (NT): 6.1%
Busselton (WA): 6.4%
Goondiwindi (QLD): 6.3%
Goulburn (NSW): 8.1%
Launceston (TAS): 7.5%
Port Augusta (SA): 6.9%
Strathbogie (VIC): 7.4%
Do capital cities perform better?
Pressley said this analysis highlighted how capital cities don’t always offer a better bet.
“For example, just two hours north of Melbourne is the municipality of Strathbogie, with a population of 10,700 people,” he said.
“Strathbogie’s 7.4 per cent average annual capital growth rate and its 5 per cent rental yield are both superior to Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Sydney.”
The same goes for NSW region, Armidale, where the median house price is $340,000, despite having tripled over the last 20 years.
Additionally, Pressley said regional hubs may offer more consistent growth.
“Let’s start with the median house price in townships such as Lismore, Esperance and Dubbo, which have produced price growth in 17 out of the last 20 calendar years, whereas Perth has produced six years of price declines.”
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