A collection of premium suburbs just got dramatically cheaper

House hunters on a iron-fisted budget will find a collection of lifestyle-driven suburbs where property prices have slid backwards by up to 24 per cent.

It could be a sign of what is to come for patient buyers across a broader range of locations, after an “extreme” hot streak of price growth around the nation that could not be maintained.

From a retail mecca in Melbourne’s east to a pretty Victorian coastal hamlet with a lighthouse and spots on the glittering Gold Coast, buyers will be relieved to find properties have declined by as much as 24.4 per cent compared to this time last year, June quarterly data shows.

Chadstone in Melbourne, which tops the list, is the home of Chadstone The Fashion Capital, the biggest shopping centre in Australia, 14km south east of the CBD. A glamorous Chadstone-branded hotel attached to the complex brings visitors from around Australia for their retail fix.

In Chadstone, units prices have dropped 24.4 per cent to land at $550,000, according to the Domain House Price Report for June 2024.

Domain’s list is a welcome index the postcodes where the affordability door has been not just opened, but kicked down.

These are markets where aggressive spurts of house price growth have lost steam.

SOLD - $400,000

116/70 Batesford Road, Chadstone VIC 3148

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Brisbane is one of the two hottest markets in Australia, along with Perth, but Biggera Waters  – a suburb on the Gold Coast, about an hour north of the high-value capital – should instead be on buyers’ GPS.

There, houses have decreased by 24.4 per cent, and the median is now $630,000.

Number three is Clayton South, in Melbourne. Properties here are the cheapest of the top ten – just $460,000 for a unit, after a fall of 23.3 per cent.

Clayton South’s sister suburb of Clayton buzzes as the base of Monash University, putting the ‘burb at the footstep of a zone with high student housing demand.

Domain’s chief of economics and research Dr Nicola Powell says the locations on the list previously experienced unsustainable growth.

She says Gold Coast suburbs in particular have lost momentum after a surge and are showing “signs of weakness”.

“This showcases that there is a multi-speed market occurring across Australia,” she says. “These locations are predominantly in Melbourne, which we know overall has had much weaker conditions. Or, they in New South Wales.

“There are some interestingly on the Gold Coast. The thing that unites the Gold Coast and Sydney suburbs is we have seen some extreme period of growth leading up to this.

SOLD - Price Withheld

1/8 Helena Street, Biggera Waters QLD 4216

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“Melbourne is a little bit different because it has seen sideways pricing for a couple of years now.”

On the Gold Coast, unit prices dropped from their record high last quarter, Dr Powell says.

“It is a sign of what could unravel across other suburbs also, as we are starting to see weakness in some areas. It is premium locations that are declining,” Dr Powell says.

However, price troughs historically don’t last long, she says.