250,000 house moves were tracked. Pictured: Find A Mover director Howe Tran
Australians are defying cost-of-living pressures and interest rate hikes to climb the property ladder, with a deep dive into more than 250,000 house moves crowning Melbourne and Brisbane the nation’s upgrade capitals.
The Find A Mover Property Report tracked whether people were moving to higher or lower-valued properties, based on suburb medians and average property sizes, revealing a surprisingly resilient housing market.
Find a Mover director Howe Tran said the national overview showed many buyers were choosing to spend more to secure their dream homes, rather than being forced to downsize, though he noted the trend was split across the states.
Melbourne families traded up to Berwick from the outer east.
“What we’re seeing across the five capitals is a clear split,” Mr Tran said.
“The big picture is simple. In Melbourne and Brisbane, people are choosing to spend more. In Sydney and Adelaide, more people are being forced to spend less.”
Melbourne was in a league of its own, remaining “rock solid” on the property ladder with a flawless three-year streak of positive upgrade quarters.
Mr Tran said 14 of the city’s top 20 relocated suburbs were positive, led by Southbank (+25 per cent) as buyers targeted waterfront apartments, and Berwick, where families traded up from the outer east.
People were choosing to spend more moving to Brisbane City, according to the report
MORE NEWS
Aus warned: Six-rate hike shock is coming
Grim future for renters revealed amid tax fallout
Aus’ hottest home is yet to find a buyer
Brisbane sat just behind the southern capital, recording 11 out of 12 positive quarters as a wave of interstate arrivals leveraged southern equity to climb the Queensland property ladder.
Brisbane City led with a 21 per cent upgrade gap, while Mr Tran noted even growth corridors like Springfield Lakes and North Lakes hosted newcomers choosing to upgrade rather than chasing cheaper housing.
Sydney meanwhile emerged as the tightest market in the country, recording four negative quarters over the past three years as residents feeling the affordability squeeze were forced to downgrade. Mr Tran said the city-wide gap was sitting around zero, but pockets like
People were moving to Parramatta from suburbs with lower median-priced properties
Parramatta bucked the trend with a 16 per cent upgrade gap, while areas like Maroubra had locals trading down with a -12 per cent gap to stay in the market.
Adelaide was the nation’s most “fragile” market, with the weakest upgrade numbers of any capital as narrow price gaps between suburbs made the South Australian capital highly sensitive to rate changes.
Perth remained an active market but was acting as a “rollercoaster” heavily tied to the resources sector, showing big upgrades in the CBD but sharp downgrades on the outer fringes.
Mr Tran said while Sydney and Adelaide buckled under the pressure of multiple negative quarters, the broader data showed Australians were still motivated to trade up to better homes.
“People are still willing to pay a premium,” he said. “That demand hasn’t gone away.”
Adelaide was labelled a fragile market due to smaller price gaps between the city’s suburbs
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) · 