First home buyers rejoice! Affordability is on the rise.

The PRD Affordable and Liveable Property Guides 1st Half 2019 are available for Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Hobart. These property guides provide valuable insights and highlights for the market, and report on many key indicators to create a holistic picture of the property conditions in each capital city. There were several surprise findings in the 1st Half 2019 reports:

1. We were able to find affordable and liveable suburbs in different pockets of Brisbane, resulting in a good spread geographically. This contrasts with the 2nd Half 2018 report, where all identified affordable and liveable house suburbs were concentrated on the north side.
2. All affordable and liveable suburbs identified in Sydney had negative annual median price growth, which is a sign of market cooling. Thus, instead of showcasing suburbs with the highest price growth, which has been the trend over the past 4-5 years, the 1st Half 2019 report became an exercise in minimising the decline in capital growth. This has been a continued finding since the 2nd Half 2018 report, and therefore offers further great news for first home buyers.
3. None of the affordable suburbs in Hobart were able to satisfy the liveability criteria. To ensure liveability aspects were met, the median suburb price had to be raised above the Hobart Metro median price. This increased median price was continued from the 2nd Half 2018 report, which suggests that buyers in Hobart must sacrifice affordability to meet liveability and/or investment criteria.
4. In Melbourne, the proportion of house sales in the lowest bracket (below $500,000) increased from 1.9% to 4.0% over the past 12 months (to the 1st half of 2019). This is a price point shift that has not occurred over the past 3 years. Houses priced between $1,000,000-$2,000,000 are no longer the dominant price point, and have declined in sales activity from 52.4% to 29.1%, with sales transactions seemingly being distributed towards lower price points during the 1st half of 2019.
5. The Brisbane property market is currently in its prime for first home buyers, with the proportion of available suburbs with properties in the sub-$500,000 price bracket reaching a record high of 42.4%. This is extremely encouraging news for Brisbane first home buyers, as it signals a flip in the market from being a $500,000-$800,000 market to an under $500,000 property market.

Read the full report to find out which cities and suburbs fared best: PRD Affordable and Liveable Property Guides 1st Half 2019.