Australia’s most family friendly suburbs have been revealed with Hobart and Melbourne dominating the results. The Top 100 Suburbs for Family Living report was compiled RP Data for mortgage broker, Aussie Home Loans. The suburbs were rated by comparing house prices, block size, bedroom numbers, historical capital gains and proximity to family-friendly amenities.
In the top spot was Kingston, positioned in the south of Hobart with a median house prices of $352,500. East of Hobart is Lauderdale which made the third position and has a similar median house price at $351,500. Melbourne scored the most entries in the top 100 with a total of 31 suburbs, including three in the top 10. Taylors Lakes came in fifth position, Diamond Creek ranked eighth and Cockatoo rounded out the top ten.
Brisbane scored 22 family friendly suburbs, led by Morayfield north of Brisbane. Sydney was just behind with 21, led by Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s hometown of Forestville. Adelaide registered 12, led by Aberfoyle Park. Hobart had 9, led by Kingston, Perth posted 4, led by Byford and Darwin with just 1 was led by Bellamack. Canberra did not register in the list of metropolitan based family-friendly suburbs.
Commentary
Morgans Financial Limited Chief Economist Michael Knox explains why he thinks the housing recovery is just starting:
“The housing market really has to be strong. I think the RBA [Reserve Bank of Australia] is relying on the housing market to be strong to generate a domestic recovery in Australia. The problem is that in Australia we have a growth recession, and what that means is that growth in the labour force is too high relative to growth in employment, and that means that unemployment is nudging up, and we’ve seen that in recent months.
The only way that we can turn that around is to generate stronger domestic demand and the best way to do that is to generate a recovery in the housing sector. So we’ve seen a lift in dwelling approvals of about 27 per cent in the last year. But, that only takes housing demand back up to around about long term trend. It needs to be stronger than that and higher than that to generate the kind of recovery that the RBA is looking for. So I think that the housing recovery is just starting.”
Australian auction results
This week’s auction results across Australian capital cities showed the property market has shown no sign in slowing down - Sydney recorded an 82 per cent clearance rate from 629 properties for auction, Melbourne posted a 70 per cent clearance rate from 231 properties for auction, Brisbane booked a 59 per cent clearance rate from 105 properties for auction and Adelaide saw a 71 per cent clearance rate from 50 properties for auction.
Commercial property sector
Australia’s two largest cities have climbed into the top 10 of the world’s most expensive cities for premier market rents with Hong Kong keeping its title at the top of the ladder. CBRE figures show Sydney CBD’s average lease is about $10,500 per square meter compared to Melbourne at about $8,800. In Sydney Westfield Group's
(ASX:WDC) upscale shopping centre pushed the area in and surrounding Pitt Street Mall to the sixth position on the tally. CFS Retail Property Trust’s
(ASX:CFX) half-owned owned Emporium lifted Melbourne’s Bourke St shopping district to the ninth position.
Australia-based real estate investment trust 360 Capital Industrial Fund
(ASX:TIX) has inked a deal to sell a property in Victoria for $4.6 million as it moves to targeting larger assets with higher quality metrics.
