The 68 suburbs where an unlikely type of home is seeing big price wins

Units in almost 70 suburbs across the country earned their owners more money than houses in the past year, bucking the norm of houses being a more lucrative investment, a new data analysis has shown.

In 68 suburbs units – encompassing any property on a strata title, including townhouses, villa units and apartments – increased in value by up to $83,000 more than houses in the same suburb, PropTrack data showed.

The bulk of these suburbs were in Brisbane and greater Queensland – 50 in total – while a handful were in New South Wales and Victoria, two in South Australia, and one each in Tasmania and Western Australia.  

“Units are up in Brisbane overall,” REA Group senior economist Angus Moore said. “It’s a bit unique in that we’re not seeing that in other capitals.”

The latest PropTrack Home Price Index showed Brisbane and the rest of Queensland were two of just three markets where unit-price growth outpaced house-price growth.

Top 10 suburbs where units earn more than houses

Brisbane units saw a 16.9% increase in the year to October while house prices increased by just 11.8%. In the rest of Queensland units were up 11.6% while houses gained 10.1%. Perth units slightly outpaced houses for price-growth – 21.1% vs 20.5%.

It bucked a trend seen nationally since 2015, where house-prices have seen almost twice the growth of unit prices, Mr Moore said.

“If we look over roughly the last 10 years, prices are up 86% for detached homes and 44% for units,” he said.

The suburb with the largest monetary growth in unit prices compared with house prices was not, however, in Queensland, but in Adelaide. Goodwood in the Adelaide Hills area saw unit prices increase by $82,037 more than house prices did in the past 12 months.

Jump to see the full list of suburbs where units made more than houses

Next cab off the rank was in Brisbane’s Nundah, where units earned $71,086 more than houses in the past year. Units there increased in price by about 28%, whereas houses saw a much smaller uptick of about 6%.  

Local agent and Harcourts Pinnacle Aspley, Strathpine, Petrie director Johnny Lin said a recent boom in house prices meant people – particularly first-home buyers – were priced out of buying a free-standing house in the suburb.

“Most have a budget of $700,000 to $800,000, but with that budget they have to go really far away,” Mr Lin said. “Townhouses are more popular than apartments, but they are more expensive – a two-bedroom apartment will cost between $600,000 and $750,000, whereas a townhouse can cost up to $900,000.”

Still, that’s significantly less than the median house price in Nundah – which despite only clocking a small annual increase – was $1.18 million.

Apartments such as 3/15 Vernon Street, Nundah are popular with first-home buyers. Picture: Realestate.com.au/buy

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“Houses are typically more expensive than units, you can see by and large houses are still more expensive – even in these suburbs where units have seen more growth in the past year,” Mr Moore said.

For example, in the only Sydney suburb where units outperformed houses – Engadine – the median house price was $1.41 million compared with $846,310 for units.

The unit price increased by nearly $20,000 more than the house price in the year – but that was not enough to get close to the house price.

However, there were instances of units seeing big sale-prices in the suburb, Stone Engadine agent Rhys Christofa said.

“I sold an apartment in the Vue building recently where the buyer paid $1.417 million, and that was more than what he sold his house for,” Mr Christofa said.

He said there was an “oversupply” of houses compared with units in the area, and the demand for townhouses and apartments was strong among downsizers and first-home buyers.

In Melbourne, Templestowe Lower saw some of the city’s strongest unit-price growth when compared with houses – clocking a $36,742 difference in dollar-value gains in the year.

The popularity of sizeable townhouses – which appealed to both downsizers and young families – was the likely reason, Barry Plant Doncaster East director Mark Di Giulio said.

“There are a lot of the Baby Boomer generation who want to downsize, but not down-grade lifestyle – they want low-maintenance opulent properties,” Mr Di Giulio said.

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“Younger couples are also wanting low maintenance now – they are wanting townhouses – large modern properties without the land.”

He said Templestowe Lower made-up for the lack of a backyard with a “plethora” of parks.

“Still offers a leafy-green, country lifestyle but it’s only 12.5 kilometres to the CBD,” he said.

Mr Moore said unit-owners in these suburbs could potentially find it easier to up-size and stay local, though it would depend on a case-by-case basis.

“But yes, If the home you live in is worth more, it can give you a better chance of buying something larger,” he said. “The equity helps with upgrading it helps with reducing the amount of a deposit that is needed.”

All suburbs where units earn more than houses