Affordable opportunities 10 kilometres from capital cities' CBDs: Cameron Kusher

Affordable opportunities 10 kilometres from capital cities' CBDs: Cameron Kusher
Cameron KusherDecember 7, 2020

With values once again rising across most capital cities, RP Data has looked at the capital city locations within 10 kilometres of the city centre where you can still purchase relatively affordable homes.

Many of us want to live close to the city centre or near the water, the sad fact of the matter is that these homes are in short supply and tend to cost a lot. With capital city home values once again starting to climb, we look at the areas where you can buy at a relatively affordable price point compared with many other inner city suburbs.

As you will note, these suburbs are not the most prestigious or highly sought after however, they do enjoy close proximity to the city centre. They also often have high levels of nearby amenity and in some instances are extremely well catered to by local infrastructure.

It is also interesting to note that although houses may be too expensive for price sensitive buyers, a unit can offer the same high level of amenity and in most instances at a significantly lower buy in price than purchasing a house.

Looking across the capital cities, we can see some divergences on a city-to-city basis as well as between houses and units when looking at the suburbs with the lowest median value within 10 kilometres of the CBD.

Sydney

St Peters is the most affordable suburb for houses within a 10km radius of the Sydney CBD. Located 5.7km from the city centre it has a median value of $645,681. For units, values are much lower with Darlington the most affordable with a median value of $292,271. There are 99 Sydney suburbs within a 10km radius of Sydney with a lower median unit value that the St Peters median house value. 

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Melbourne

Bellfield is Melbourne’s most affordable suburb for houses within a 10km radius of the CBD with a median value of $493,685. Carlton has the city’s most affordable units within 10km of the city centre with a median value of $232,453, keeping in mind most units in the suburb are student accommodation. 49 suburbs within 10km of the Melbourne city centre have a lower median unit value than that of Bellfield’s median house value.

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Brisbane

Brisbane’s most affordable suburb within 10km of the CBD is Rocklea, it has a current median house value of $298,796. Chelmer has the most affordable units within 10km of the city centre at $306,415. Rocklea house values are a bit of an outlier because it was severely inundated by floods, if we look at house values in Chermside West ($418,735), 68 suburbs within 10km of the city have a lower median unit value than median house values in Chermside West.

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Adelaide

Dry Creek which is located right on the edge of a 10km radius of Adelaide has the lowest median house value within this region at $244,971. Ottoway has the lowest median unit value within a 10km radius of the city centre at $204,091. There are 18 Adelaide suburbs within 10km of the city centre with a lower median unit value than Dry Creek’s median house value.

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Perth

Cannington has Perth’s lowest median house value within a 10km radius of the CBD at $413,925. There are 20 suburbs within the same region that have a median unit value lower than this figure, the lowest of which is found in Glendalough ($324,219).

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Hobart

Hobart’s most affordable suburb for houses within 10km of the city centre is Clarendon Vale with a median value of $151,089. For units, the most affordable suburb within the region is Glenorchy with a median value of $190,387. Hobart is the only capital city in which the most affordable suburbs for units within 10km of the city centre is more expensive than the most affordable suburb for houses.

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Darwin

Farrar is the most affordable suburb in which to purchase a house within 10km of the Darwin CBD with a median value of $514,344. The most affordable suburb for units is Alawa with a median value of $331,650. There are 16 Darwin suburbs within 10km of the CBD which have a lower median value for units than Farrar’s median house value.

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Canberra

The most affordable suburb for houses within a 10km radius of the Canberra CBD is Crace with a median value of $372,672. There are 15 suburbs within a 10km radius of the Canberra CBD that have a median unit value lower than the median house value of Crace, the most affordable of which in Hughes ($209,269).

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As you’d expect, house values in the inner city areas are quite high. This is due to strong demand for houses in these regions and the fact that areas closer to the city typically have the best amenity and superior infrastructure. Inner city units offer the same benefits at typically a much lower price point, as a result it is no wonder the popularity of inner city units continues to grow.


Cameron Kusher is senior research analyst at RP Data.

 

Image courtesy of Michael Renner/flickr.


Cameron Kusher

Cameron Kusher is senior research analyst at CoreLogic RP Data.

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