Property market slowdown masks widespread suburb growth

New data from Australia’s biggest listings company reveals that property prices in the overwhelming majority of Australian suburbs are still higher than they were 12 months ago.

The findings from REA Group show median house prices are higher than a year ago in 85% of Australia’s 15,353 suburbs.

For units, the proportion rises to 90%.

The realestate.com.au analysis shows that, despite recent price falls and challenging market conditions - particularly in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne - Australia’s property market remains resilient.

The details

New realestate.com.au analysis identifies where home prices have increased most over the past 12 months, where buyer interest has been strongest and where properties are selling fastest.

It shows that despite deteriorating market conditions in the major capitals, property prices in most Australian suburbs are still up from a year ago.

REA Group also points out that in the small number of suburbs where prices did fall, about half recorded declines of less than 3%.

When it comes to houses, locations in regional and rural Tasmania, Queensland and Western Australia dominate the places where price gains have been the strongest.

Nationally, Ravenswood - an affordable outer suburb of Launceston in Tasmania’s north - saw the strongest price growth for houses, up 41% from June 2025 to a median of $511,000.

The adjoining suburb of Waverley came in at third place, up 39% in 12 months to a median of $514,000, while nearby Mayfield came in sixth, up 37% to $501,000.

The North Queensland suburbs of Home Hill and Forrest Beach also saw strong growth, coming second and tenth on the annual house price leaderboard.

Home Hill - about 100km south of Townsville - saw 40% year-on-year growth to a median of $404,000.

Forrest Beach, about 140km north of Townsville, saw strong 35% annual growth.

Queensland also contributed the only luxury suburb on the top ten list, with a 38% annual jump in house prices in Sunshine Beach on the Sunshine Coast, taking the median house price to just under $3 million at $2,839,000.

Rangeway, a suburb of Geraldton, was Western Australia’s highest-ranked entry, recording annual growth of 39% to a median of $461,000.

Merredin, about 250km east of Perth in the Wheatbelt, recorded annual growth of 35%, taking its median house price to $328,000.

While regional locations dominate the house price growth stakes, it’s a totally different picture when it comes to units, with suburban locations dominating.

Five suburbs in the Logan area, south of Brisbane, made the top-10 list for annual unit-price growth.

Hillcrest (42% year-on-year price growth), Beenleigh (42%), Boronia Heights (40%), Slacks Creek (39%) and Edens Landing (37%) all recorded strong growth, taking their median unit prices to between $670,000 and $860,000.

Units in all these suburbs have been in high demand among first-home buyers and investors over the past year.

Townsville suburb Cranbrook (40%) and Booval in Ipswich (37%) were the other Queensland suburbs in the top ten.

Three suburbs in suburban Perth also made the top ten list for annual price gains for units: Orelia (42%), Jolimont (40%) and Clarkson (37%).

Enquiries and time on market

As well as looking at raw price gains, realestate.com.au also looked at which suburbs were generating the most interest from house and unit buyers.

 Based on key enquiries per listing, Rocklea in Brisbane, West Tamworth in northern New South Wales and Crows Nest on Sydney’s lower north shore and St Marys in the city’s west were the most in-demand suburbs among house buyers. 

When it came to units, the Sydney suburbs of Concord West, Fairfield Heights and Bonnyrigg saw the most demand among buyers.

Sydney suburbs Bass Hill and Girraween also rated highly.

Four suburbs in Greater Brisbane - Rochedale South, Goodna, Underwood and Herston - together with South Fremantle in Western Australia, rounded out the top 10 for unit enquiries.

The figures suggest strong interest in the three cities from apartment buyers - possibly first-home buyers keen to take advantage of the Albanese Government’s 5% deposit scheme or investors keen for capital growth.

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Investors were likely also active in Darwin, which dominated the suburbs where houses sold the quickest, with Gray, Wanguri and Farrar seeing houses sell in ten days or less.

Skye and Carrum Downs in Melbourne’s rapidly developing south east also saw median house sale times of 13 days or less.

For units, properties listed in Launceston suburb Summerhill, Adelaide’s Toorak Gardens, and Brisbane’s Alexandra Hills and Kenmore sold the quickest, with median selling times of between 10 and 13 days.