Property flippers are increasingly drawn to cheaper pockets of booming markets, as higher construction costs and stronger competition make renovation projects harder to find.
From Adelaide’s northern suburbs to inland New South Wales and southeast Queensland, investors are targeting lower-priced suburbs in growth corridors where they can still buy, renovate and resell at a profit.
“When we look at investor interest and where investors are searching, it does skew towards more affordable areas," said PropTrack executive manager of economics Angus Moore.
These areas are commonly situated in cities experiencing a growth phase, he added.
But finding affordable pockets or properties in booming regions is easier said than done. Property flipping requires considerable expense: holding costs, some level of capital gains tax upon re-sale and, of course, the cost of renovating, which has skyrocketed over the past seven years.
Mr Moore said the input construction costs alone for a detached house, excluding labour, have risen 38% since the end of 2019.
The overwhelming majority of investors are selling for a profit, a new report from PropTrack and Westpac has found. Picture: Getty
Nevertheless, a new report from PropTrack and Westpac has revealed 93% of investor sales made a profit in the last few months of 2025, which is the highest level in at least a decade.
Mr Moore said that “the vast percentage of homes - well upwards of the high 90s in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth - sell for more than they were bought for.”
“Which is not a surprise when you think about the fact that home prices have more than doubled in those cities in the last six years,” he said.
Source: PropTrack Westpac Investor Report 2026 | *Among sales that were profitable
This high share of profitable sales hasn’t always been the case. In 2019, when home prices were falling, around one-fifth of investor sales were at a loss, the report found.
Similarly, in 2022 and 2023, when home prices were falling as the RBA raised interest rates, there was a small increase in the share of investors selling for a loss, though this was short lived.
Bargain hunting
Adelaide property agent Mike Lao from Edge Realty said the cheaper areas of Adelaide’s northern suburbs, such as Elizabeth South and Elizabeth Park, have become popular in the last couple of years as Adelaide’s house price has rocketed upwards.
“We have lots of flippers who are interested in the area, but you need to get the property at a good price,” he said.
A renovator snapped up this home in Elizabeth South with plans to quickly flip it. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
Mr Lao pointed to the recent example of a derelict home in Elizabeth South, which was formerly used as a meth den, but sold to property flippers for the “mid $400,000 region”.
He said the so-called meth house is being done up and will be ready for listing in roughly six weeks.
Price growth has been so steep in Adelaide that many flippers hope if they do overpay they can be lifted on the rising tide of price growth. The capital city now has a median house price of $1 million according to the latest PropTrack Home Price Index.
“If you bought a house for $260,000 in 2016, then that same house could be worth up to $1 million now,” says Mr Lao.
“That is roughly four times the value in a decade.”
Broken Hill in western NSW attracts property flippers due to its cheap homes, with houses regularly selling for just tens of thousands of dollars. Picture: Getty
Meanwhile, the western NSW town of Broken Hill has become an “investment hotspot”, according to Molly Clemens from Broken Hill Property Management.
Ms Clemens said while some of these investors are renting out their investment properties, many are renovating and re-selling for a tidy profit.
And it’s not just mum-and-dad investors, either, with Ms Clemens saying that professional renovation businesses are “working through the town” and buying in bulk.
“A few are coming through and bulk buying at the moment; they’re just moving from one property to another,” she notes.
A dilapidated 595 Wolfren Street, Broken Hill, was bought by a small property company for $89,000 in July 2025, and was done up and sold for $315,000 recently.
Before: 595 Wolfren Street, Broken Hill. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
After: The home sold for $226,000 more than it was purchased for just several months earlier. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
Meanwhile, 141 Bourke Street was bought for $137,000 nine months ago, but sold for $395,000 two months ago.
Broken Hill’s housing stock is largely older heritage-style homes, and renovators are often accentuating attractive features.
“There's some renovators doing it so well at the moment, and holding on to some of the heritage features, like the pressed tin ceilings and stone walls,” Ms Clemens says.
The remote town often sees its derelict housing stock sell for tens of thousands of dollars, regularly ranking among the cheapest home sales in the country.
Selecting the right property
Noosa-based buyer’s agent and property flipper Jo Yates renovates and sells properties with her sister, focusing mainly on buying undervalued property in improving suburbs.
She has flipped 15 properties in 15 years, and focuses on the cheap, or less-desirable areas of booming regions, such as Deception Bay north of Brisbane and Nambour on the Sunshine Coast.
“Nambour is probably one of the cheapest places on the Sunshine Coast because it's not by the ocean, but it's probably 20 minutes from the beach on a good day,” she said.
Experienced property flipper and buyer's agent Jo Yates said locations like Nambour are attractive to investors due to strong price growth and relative affordability. Picture: realestate.com.au
Ms Yates also opts for older homes for their structural integrity and keeps renovation costs down by doing much of the work herself. She also adds value by making floor plan tweaks, such as converting large laundries into an extra bathroom.
One of her most successful flips has been the purchase of a Waverley apartment in Sydney for $850,000, which was renovated at a cost of $50,000 and flipped for $1.23 million a little more than a year later.
“A big part of the value in that one was improving the layout and opening up the space,” she said.
The Waverley apartment Ms Yates sold in 2017 for a more than $250,000 profit after all costs. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold
But even so, Ms Yates said profit margins are getting tighter owing to increased competition for cheaper properties.
“The first home-buyer’s deposit scheme has pushed up prices under the $1 million mark, but the desired sales price hasn't increased by the same percentage,” Ms Yates said.
“Even with this benefit of being a buyer’s agent, I'm finding it hard to find the right property right now.”
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