What an 'entry-level price' buys you across Australian cities
Australia’s cheapest homes are becoming more expensive, with entry-level property prices in some of our largest cities outpacing other market segments when it comes to price growth.
Entry-level house prices in Australia’s most expensive markets – Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra – are edging closer towards $500,000, and are also on the rise across the other capitals.
Here’s what you can expect to buy for the entry-level price in some of our biggest cities:
Sydney
House: $480,000 Unit: $409,000
It’s the most expensive property market in the country, with just 5 per cent of houses sold last quarter trading for $480,0000 or less, according to Domain data. Meanwhile, units at the 5th percentile sold for $409,000.
To buy a house at that price point, buyers would need to cast their gaze to suburbs like Tregear in western Sydney, Bradbury in the Campbelltown region, and Katoomba in the Blue Mountains.
In Tregear, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house on a 594-square-metre block has a price tag of $470,00-$500,000.
Wiltar Jajaw of Ray White Mt Druitt said Tregear, about 35 kilometres west of the CBD, was typically popular with investors – with just over 60 per cent of properties in the suburb rented at the last census. However, it’s now first-home buyers showing the strongest demand.
“It’s quite ridiculous, to be honest,” Mr Jajaw said. “I’ve been in real estate for 13 years and [first-home buyer demand] is the strongest I’ve ever seen it.”
He noted buyers were typically from other pockets of Western Sydney and drawn to their area for its affordable house prices.
An entry-level unit will get you much closer to the city, even into the inner-city eastern suburbs, if you’re not fussed about having a bedroom, with studios in Zetland, Elizabeth Bay and Chippendale – measuring just 32-square-metres – for sale for around or below the $409,000 entry unit price.
Alternatively, buyers could pick up a two-bedroom, one-bathroom apartment with parking in Roselands, about 16 kilometres south of the CBD.
Melbourne
House: $465,000 Unit: $305,000
If you want to buy an entry-level house in Melbourne – and you’re not eligible for retirement living – you’ll need again to look a fair way from the city centre, but you’ll be better off than you would be in Sydney.
Within 20 kilometres of the Melbourne CBD, two-bedroom, one-bathroom houses in the likes of Altona Meadows to the city’s south-west and Westmeadow in the north are on the market for around the entry-level house price. While in neighbouring Dallas, a four-bedroom, one-bathroom house is on the market for $440,000 to $470,000.
A little further afield, in Point Cook – 22 kilometres south-east of the city – buyers can pick up a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house for between $430,000 to $460,000.
For apartments, those on an entry-level budget of $305,000, could look to one-bedroom units in suburbs like St Kilda, Southbank and Newport. In Carlton, the budget stretches to a small two-bedroom unit advertised for $290,000 to $300,000.
Brisbane
House: $355,000 Unit: $233,000
In Greater Brisbane, an entry-level budget will get you a modern three-bedroom, two-bathroom townhouse with a two-car garage in a complex with a pool.
However, you’ll be about 25 kilometres north of Brisbane, in the suburb of Strathpine in the Moreton Bay region.
Selling agent Craig Johnston of David Deane Real Estate said Strathpine and the surrounding suburbs had always been popular with first-home buyers and investors due to its lower price point, with many coming from the northern suburbs of Brisbane. It’s also drawn interest from interstate investors since the Queensland borders reopened.
For units, buyers could snap up an apartment in the leafy riverside hotspot of New Farm – but on a budget of $233,000, it’s going to be a studio without parking.
Alternatively for a similar price tag buyers could snap up a one-bedroom unit with one car space in Taringa, which is about a 10-minute drive south-west of the city centre.
Perth
Houses: $265,000 Units: $190,000
About 20 kilometres from the city-centre, buyers will find a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house in Gosnells for just under the entry-level price at $260,000.
“The beautiful thing about Gosnells is you have affordable homes, it really offers a first-home buyer something that is so much value for money,” said Terri Prech of Professional Property Plus Canning Vale/ Thornli. “A lot of times they can pick up a home that, with a little bit of elbow grease, can be transformed into a really nice family home.”
While Gosnells had a reputation for being a little rough, Ms Prech said, there has been a lot of change in recent years with improvements to infrastructure in the area and a shift in the suburb’s demographics.
In the inner-city apartment market, a one-bedroom unit in East Perth and a studio in Mount Lawley both slide in under the entry-level price threshold of $190,000.
As does a one-bedroom unit in Spearwood, next to the beachside suburbs of Coogee and North Coogee, with a price tag of $189,000.
Canberra
House: $485,000 Unit: $260,000
The nation’s capital had the highest entry-level house price in the country over the September quarter and the third most expensive unit prices.
For $485,000 house hunters could expect to buy a new two-bedroom home in Strathnairn, about a 15-kilometre drive north-west of the city centre. A little closer to the city they could pick up a two-bedroom townhouse in Lawson or an older-style three-bedroom townhouse in Belconnen.
The entry-level unit price would secure a one-bedroom, one-bathroom unit with parking in suburbs like Griffith, in the city’s Inner South, and Macquarie, about eight kilometres north-west of the city.
Adelaide
House: $252,000 Unit: $197,000
Three-bedroom, one-bathroom houses with parking for one car, is what you can get in Adelaide for around the city’s entry-level price. In Salisbury North, about 25 kilometres north of the city, such a property on a 285-square-metre block is for sale for $239,000-$259,000. In nearby Parafield Gardens, a semi on 451 square metres is asking $250,000.
An entry-level unit price could get you a small one-bedroom apartment in the city centre, measuring just 31 square metres. Alternatively, within five kilometres of the CBD, you could pick up a two-bedroom unit on the Anzac Highway for between $195,000-$205,000.
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