There’s a popular investment theory that buying the worst house on the best street is the key to nabbing big profit, but what about the cheapest property in the most expensive suburb?
The suburbs around the country that provide solid opportunities to buy low and sell high have been revealed in a special report by Australian Property Monitors (APM).
APM extensively analysed its data to compile a list of areas with the broadest price difference between their upper and lower market sectors in this month’s Australian Property Investor.
“By looking at the lower and upper quartile price points for every suburb across New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia, we’ve ranked the 130-plus areas with the widest price variations for both houses and units,” says API deputy editor, Shannon Molloy.
Blue-chip locations make up the bulk of the list but there were some surprise suburbs too, he says. Experts then helped analyse the results and provide tips on how investors can take advantage of this type of data.
“In Sydney, it’s a ‘champagne on a beer budget’ scenario or the opportunity to snap up cheaper apartments in ritzy areas such as Milsons Point where the gap between most expensive and cheapest is nearly $1.1 million.”
In Melbourne, the suburbs with the biggest price variations included Armadale for houses ($1.1 million) and Malvern for units ($415,300).
“In Queensland, a surprise inclusion was East Toowoomba for units where the price difference from high to low is $295,000, which is fairly significant for a regional area. Local experts describe it as one of the most desirable pockets in town.”
In Brisbane it was the suburb of Hamilton with the biggest price difference for houses ($1.2 million) and Newstead for units at $545,000.
“In Perth, it’s no huge surprise that the blue-chip areas of Dalkeith and Cottesloe have the biggest gaps of $1.3 million and $1.1 million respectively. For units, Applecross topped the list with a variation between high and low prices of $445,000.”
In Adelaide, prices are more affordable than in other capitals so there are good opportunities to get a foot in the door or a pricey location without spending a fortune.
“Of course, there’s much more to consider when assessing a viable investment than price difference, but this list gives a viable insight into areas where it might be worth sniffing out a ground floor bargain that could be leveraged to step up to the penthouse.”