This month we’re revealing some of the key hot spots from the new CoreLogic report, Top Affordable Suburbs. This invaluable resource identifies the top 100 suburbs and towns Australia-wide where the median value is under $500,000, and they’ve recorded strong capital growth.

For those who doubt you can still snare a bargain in any market, these places prove you can buy high-performing properties in pockets everywhere, for a still-affordable price. It’s just a matter of looking in the right places.

For example, I bet most of you have never even heard of the modest Melbourne suburb that claimed top spot: Coolaroo. It’s just 17km north of Melbourne’s CBD, near the suburbs of Broadmeadows and Somerton – and Tullamarine airport. Houses in Coolaroo have a median value of $475,235, growing by 33.4% over the past 12 months and 64.2% over the past three years. Imagine if you’d focused your search there three years ago?

So much of the spotlight has been on Frankston (and yes, units there make the top 100), but nearby, lesser-known suburbs like Cranbourne, Langwarrin, Carrum Downs, Seaford and Somerville also made the grade – for high-performing units under $500,000. In fact, Victoria has a staggering 62 out of the top 100 suburbs and towns listed!  While surprisingly, neither ACT nor South Australia featured at all.

In Queensland, there was little surprise that units in the suburbs of Palm Beach on the Gold Coast and Alexandra Headland on the Sunshine Coast, made the top 100.

Two Perth suburbs – Two Rocks and West Leederville – snuck into the top 20, silencing any doubters who think a city whose property market is in the doldrums can’t produce a star performer.

And talking of star performers, little Tasmania certainly punched above its weight, with 12 suburbs or towns in the top 100. Even more impressive is that only two of those – Launceston and the Hobart suburb of Glenorchy – were for units, which means there are 10 places in Tasmania where you can buy a house showing high capital growth for under $500,000.

Last but not least is New South Wales. Of the 20 spots that made the top 100, not one is in Sydney – which isn’t to say there aren’t high performing suburbs in Sydney; but you’ll just be hard-pressed to find a top performer for under $500,000, thanks to the boom. For those pickings, you’re better to focus your search in regional areas up and down the coast, in areas like the Hunter Valley and inland towns.

Proof of that is the fact the two top performers are:

• Cooma, the gateway town to the Snowy Mountains, and
• the charming historic town of Braidwood, popular with both Canberrans and Sydneysiders as a weekend getaway.

While we’re not going to give away everything in the report just yet, here’s a snapshot  of the top 2 spots in each state.

The report authors do emphasise the following sound advice:

“This report provides you with a starting point when considering purchasing property, and helps identify areas where  change in median value has historically been strong. For sellers, it helps you to understand how your suburb has performed and provides an indication of the likely capital gain you should hope to realise upon sale. But as with all property investing, it is important you do your own detailed research, including visiting the area, understanding local development and infrastructure plans, and assessing your own personal financial circumstances.”