'It doesn't make sense to wait': The suburbs where you can get on the property ladder three times faster

It takes only a third of the time to save up for a deposit on an entry-level house in some suburbs of Melbourne and Brisbane than in others, and around half the time in different Sydney suburbs to the west of the city, a new report has revealed.

While the latest Domain First-Home Buyer Report found that the time it takes to save the 20 per cent deposit usually needed to buy a house has plummeted in some cities, it also exposed the sometimes huge differences in the time it takes between individual suburbs.

“There are some massive differences in there,” said Laing + Simmons agent Rob Somerville. “You’d be waiting a long, long time to save enough for the deposit in some suburbs. That’s pretty amazing to see.

“I think my advice would always be to buy where you can afford, and as close to where you want to be as possible. Otherwise, prices could double in the time it’s taken you to save up for a deposit. Far better to be in a place sooner yourself.”

GREATER MELBOURNE

In Melbourne’s north-west, saving for a house deposit will take 55 months, or four and a half years, in suburbs like Melton and Bacchus Marsh. In stark contrast, saving for a 20 per cent deposit in Melbourne’s eastern suburb of Boroondara would take nearly three times longer – an astonishing 154 months, or a marathon of nearly 13 long years.

“So it makes perfect sense to buy a house in Melton, which is a great, affordable first home buyer suburb and very family-friendly,” said Narelle Browne of OBrien Real Estate, Melton. 

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2 Acacia Crescent, Melton South VIC 3338

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“I’ve lived here all my life and you wouldn’t be missing out by buying here.

“Schools are popping up all the time and a lot of people from surrounding suburbs come here to shop as well. It’s a growing area. It just wouldn’t make sense to save up so long to buy in the east.”

Other suburbs which offer short times to save for a house are Sunbury, at 57 months, and Tullamarine at 61 months. Units with the shortest times to save a deposit, meanwhile, are in Essendon at 34 months, and Dandenong and Stonnington- West, both 37 months.

GREATER BRISBANE

The fastest place to save for a house deposit in Greater Brisbane, including Ipswich, is Springfield and Redbank, where it would take first-home buyers just 34 months, or two years and eight months. 

That’s a dramatic difference to the time it would take to buy in somewhere like Sherwood-Indooroopilly, on the south side of the Brisbane River, which is nearly three times longer at 92 months, or seven years and six months.

“Nearly 60 per cent of our buyers at the moment are first-home buyers,” said Mohammad Bassiri of Ray White Springfield. “It wouldn’t make sense to wait such a long time to save up the deposit for elsewhere.

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15 Dove Place, Springfield QLD 4300

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“And while you think they might buy here and then save more to move somewhere else, it’s such a beautiful place that most end up staying on here. It’s a young area, full of young families and there’s a lot of activity at the Springfield Lakes next door, which is pushing prices up.”

The second fastest area to save for is Forest Lake-Oxley, ironically close to Sherwood-Indooroopilly, but far from the price at 61 months to save, or five years.

For units, the quickest deposits could be raised in Springwood-Kingstone, after 26 months, and Beenleigh at 29 months.

GREATER SYDNEY

Saving up the deposit for a house in some Sydney suburbs can take only a smidgeon over half the time it takes to save the 20 per cent for a home in others further in towards the city.

If you had your heart set on a house, then the shortest time to save for a deposit would be in Mount Druitt in the city’s west, which would take 66 months, or five and a half years. If you wanted to be in the inner-west, however, in suburbs like Marrickville, Sydenham or Petersham, it would take a mighty 121 months, or 10 years.

Sydney’s eastern suburbs north, however, had the longest time in the whole of Australia to save for a deposit at an incredible 192 months, or 16 years.

“If you bought a house in Mount Druitt today, you’d be paying off your mortgage straight away, rather than renting and saving up your deposit for so long for somewhere else, and paying someone else’s mortgage,” said Somerville, of Laing + Simmons Bella Vista/Glenwood, who sells in Mount Druitt.

“By the time you’d saved up for that deposit in the more expensive suburb, who’s to say that the price wouldn’t have risen so much in the interim [that] it’d be beyond you? Buy the house you can afford now, and buy your forever home later when you’ve built up equity.”

St Marys also offers a more affordable option at 67 months to save the deposit and Richmond-Windsor at 68 months.

Buyers not willing to compromise on location can get into the market even sooner – but they will have to compromise on property type.

Units in Leichhardt take 52 months or four years and three months to save a deposit for, whilst Rouse Hill-McGraths Hill in the north-west takes 54 months or four and a half years.

GREATER ADELAIDE

The bargain suburb here is Playford in the city’s northern suburbs, where a deposit takes 41 months to save, or three years and four months. 

Then there’s also Gawler, 45 minutes north, and Two Wells, which both take 44 months. 

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21 Freeman Avenue, Munno Para SA 5115

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Playford takes only half the time it takes to save for Holdfast Bay in the coastal south-west, at 82 months or five years and eight months.

Playford is also top of the pops among unit first-home buyers for taking only 26 months to save up for a deposit, while Gawler and Two Wells take 29 months.

GREATER PERTH

Greater Perth’s quickest suburb to save for a deposit for a house is Armadale by the Darling Ranges at 34 months, and then Kwinana at 36.

Kwinana is also the place where it’s fastest to save a deposit for a unit – at 18 months – and is the fastest place to end up in your own home in the whole of Australia. 

In second place is Bayswater-Bassendean in the north-east at 21 months.  

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166 Salisbury Street, Bedford WA 6052

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