Kaylee Cranley
Updated 26 Mar 2026, 6:51am
First published 26 Mar 2026, 5:00am
New South Wales’ investor hotspots have been revealed with property investors surging to nearly half of the state’s home loans, as tight rental conditions and soaring rents fuel the rise.
The PropTrack Westpac Investor Report 2026 found investor activity in NSW has increased over recent years with investors accounting for 44 per cent of home loans, up from 37 per cent in late 2022.
The report found 90 per cent of investor sales in Sydney and 97 per cent in regional NSW made a profit in the last few months of 2025.
Tight rental market conditions and rapid rent prices are said to be the key driver for this strong rise.
MORE: $6bn plan to kickstart Sydney’s night-life
Top 10 investor suburbs for houses in NSW
Investor activity is up in NSW, rising from 37 per cent in late 2022 and 29 per cent in late 2020.
Tumbi Umbi in The Central Coast, North Richmond in the Outer West and Blue Mountains region and Austral in Sydney’s South West, ranked as the top performing suburbs for houses.
These suburbs recorded annual median sale price growth above Sydney’s 7.7 per cent and outperformed the capital’s average rental yield.
More-affordable parts of the capital cities were popular with investors inquiring on realestate.com.au.
In Sydney, the St Marys region is also proving to be very popular, with the share of inquiries coming from investors (compared to other buyers) twice as high as the citywide average.
Other popular areas for investors include Fairfield, Mount Druitt and Blacktown.
MORE: ‘Seeing it now’: Where rate rises will hit hardest
Tumbi Umbi in The Central Coast was one of the top performing NSW suburbs for houses
The top performing suburbs for units were Moorebank, Chipping Norton and Kingsgrove in Sydney’s South West and Inner South West with short lease times, solid price growth and high yields.
REA Group Senior Economist and report author Angus Moore said although the share of loans going to investors is higher than other parts of the country, it’s not quite a record for the state.
“NSW has seen some periods in the mid 2010s with even higher shares of investor participations,” Mr Moore said.
Top 10 investor suburbs for units in NSW
Mr Moore said investors tend to skew towards more affordable homes in general, with the outer south west and south west showing up quite strongly due to better price growth in recent years than other parts of Sydney.
“If you look at some of the places where we’re seeing a lot of investor inquiries and a lot of representation from investors the inner city stands out,” Mr Moore said.
“Outside of that, its places like St Mary’s, Fairfield, Mount Druitt, Blacktown that are showing up as seeing a lot of investor inquiry and interest that are typically more affordable areas – we see this geographic pattern across our cities.”
According to Mr Moore, tight rental market conditions over recent years is driving this investor demand.
Angus Moore
“We’ve seen enormous increases in rent and very limited rental availability,” Mr Moore said.
“In that environment it’s unsurprising that we’re seeing a lot of investor interest and a lot of demand from investors.
“On the flip side, we have seen a couple of rate hikes already and we’re expected to see a couple of more, that will be a bit of a headwind for not just investors but homebuyers in general where those two balance out will certainly be something to watch but given where rental market conditions are we expect that will continue to drive investor activity this year.”
MORE: 60 suburbs named in millionaire postcodes
Help us improve your reading experience
Got a minute? Your feedback will help us build a better experience for you.
Help us improve this page
English (US) · 