Sunbury tops list of most traded hotspots, with more than one house sold a day
Vendors in Sunbury, about 40 kilometres north west of the Melbourne CBD and most famous as the birthplace of The Ashes, sold on average 1.6 houses every day last year, making it Australia’s most heavily traded hotspot.
In total there were 604 sales in Sunbury in 2011, making it one of just eight locations out of Smart Investor magazine’s 601 hotspots that managed an average of at least one sale a day over the course of 2011.
The hotspot list is based on those suburbs where dwelling prices appreciated the greatest over the 12 months to December 2011.
Sunbury house prices grew by 5.3% over 2011, but are forecast to grow by only 2% over 2012.
Second on the list is Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory, nearly 1,000 kilometres from Darwin, which had 491 sales last year and is a centre of both mining exploration and cattle grazing, while another mining and agricultural town, Emerald, in the Queensland central highlands, recorded 375 sales during 2011.
The eight locations also include the outer-Melbourne suburb of Tarneit, which recorded 424 sales over 2011.
Both Sunbury and Tarneit are part of the Baillieu government’s $200 billion growth corridor plan, which aims to house 1 million people over the next 20 years in north, west and south-east Melbourne suburbs and create a regional centre the size of Adelaide.
Sunbury forms part of the City of Hume, which the Victorian government expects will “continue to play a key role in contributing to the national economy and Australia's global position, with an expectation that employment will grow to between 90,000 and 95,000 jobs”.
Tarneit is in the city of Wyndham, the fastest-growing region in Melbourne and a hotspot for residential developments with 23 active projects comprising 24,000 homes underway with Australand, Dennis Family Corporation, Multiplex, Stockland, Peet and Villawood among those involved. Tarneit’s population is forecast to grow by at least 161,000 people by 2031.
Sunbury and Tarneit are among those suburbs that will benefit from an investment program, which includes the building of new train infrastructure, major roads, revamping town centres, building 350,000 new homes and the creating jobs for 400,000 people as well as building new parks and environmental reserves.
According to legend, following a game of cricket between the English cricket team and a local side, Sir William Clarke and Lady Clarke were presented with an urn containing the ashes of a bail used during the game in their grand Sunbury mansion of Rupertswood (now the home of Salesian College).
| State | Number sold in 2011 | Sales per day | Median price | Year on year change | 12 month forecast | Gross rental yield | |
Sunbury houses | Vic | 604 | 1.65 | $356,000 | 5.3% | 2% | $318 | 4.7% |
Tennant Creek houses | NT | 491 | 1.35 | $230,000 | 24.3% | 1% | Snr | Snr |
Canning Vale houses | WA | 490 | 1.35 | $525,000 | -1.9% | 5+% | $450 | 4.7% |
Goulburn houses | NSW | 456 | 1.25 | $269,500 | 7.8% | 3% | $270 | 5.8% |
Traralgon houses | Vic | 453 | 1.24 | $265,000 | 4.7% | 2% | $280 | 5.5% |
Brisbane units | Qld | 439 | 1.2 | $430,000 | 0% | 3% | $560 | 6.5% |
Tarneit houses | Vic | 424 | 1.16 | $370,000 | 4.2% | 0% | $300 | 4.2% |
Emerald houses | Qld | 375 | 1.03 | $412,250 | 8.5% | 5+% | $550 | 7.6% |
Source: Smart Investor
Photograph by Elizabeth Donoghue, courtesy of Flickr.