Where are the country's most affordable capital city suburbs? Tim Lawless

RP Data latest Spring Buyer’s Guide was released this week, providing an overview of key housing market statistics for every suburb that has recorded at least ten house or units sales over the past year nationally.  

One of the interesting statistics that flows from the guide is the percentage of suburbs across each capital city that might be considered affordable.  The maps below highlight the suburbs with a median house or unit value under $300,000 and $500,000.  The trends come as no surprise; it is typically the outer fringe suburbs where the most affordable housing can be found.

What is a little surprising is the proportion of suburbs across each capital city where the median value of a house is less than $300,000 or $500,000.    While Australia’s most affordable capital city, Hobart, shows the highest proportion (41.3% of all suburbs have median house value under $300,000), it is Brisbane that has the second highest proportion at 15.2% followed by Adelaide at 14.4%.

The depth and diversity of Brisbane suburbs for affordable housing is quite remarkable considering this is the nation’s third largest capital city. The vast majority (60% or 30 individual suburbs) of these affordable suburbs can be found within the Ipswich council region which is west of the Brisbane local government area.  26% (13 suburbs) of the most affordable Brisbane suburbs are located within the Logan council region while only 3 each are in the Redland and Moreton council regions and just one (Inala) is located within the Brisbane council area.

Another surprise is that the Melbourne metro area has a slightly lower proportion of very affordable suburbs (ie

The maps below show the geography of affordability across the capital cities and of course, the full Spring Buyer’s Guide which is available to download has great deal more detail for every suburb around the nation.

Tim Lawless is national research director of RP Data.