Groundswell Property's Market Insights
Population Boom, Regional Rises, and Auction Action: Key Market Moves as at 05 April 2025
Welcome to this week’s edition of Groundswell Property’s Market Insights, where we cut through the media noise and deliver real, data-driven updates on Australia’s ever-changing property market.
Image source: Luisa Denu, Unsplash
Key Highlights:
Migration-led demand is reshaping where and how Australians live
Regional towns are emerging as the nation’s top investment plays
Auction volumes and clearance rates are climbing across the board
Unit prices are outpacing house prices in many capital cities
Construction is on the rise—but not enough to meet surging demand
As always, our goal is to provide evidence-based insights to help you make informed property decisions—whether you're buying, selling, or simply keeping a pulse on the market. Let’s dive into the data and insights shaping the year ahead.
Migration Pushing Up Demand
Australia added 484,000 people to the national headcount in the 12 months to September 2024.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, West Australia’s population grew by 2.5%, Victoria by 2.1% and Queensland by 2%.
This increase in population puts increased pressure on housing across all tenures: ownership, rental, and emergency accommodation.
And increased demand leads to increased prices. That pressure on prices is resulting in more people looking for affordable options in Australia’s regional markets.
The Regional Australia Institute’s latest Regional Movers Index shows internal migration to regional areas, has cemented itself as a long-term structural trend. It shows a four-fold increase in migration from capital cities to places like Bendigo and Bunbury.
Bendigo, in particular, is surging off the charts, with a 63% quarterly growth in capital city to regional migration and a four-fold increase year-on-year.
It’s now second only to Bunbury in West Australia as the fastest-growing regional centre.
Why is this important for the property market?
Well, when people move, house prices tend to move also. Bunbury is a good example of this.
Its median house price jumped 28% in 2024 - the highest growth of any WA regional centre.
This shift has profound implications—not just for property values but for rental stress in areas traditionally considered affordable.
Australia’s housing supply continues to lag population growth.
Migration - both international and domestic - remains a powerful driver of housing demand.
And while big-city markets get the media spotlight, regional areas are where the most intense growth and pressure are now playing out.
Investment Trifecta Hotspots
Australia’s regional towns are powering ahead, with new analysis revealing that regional towns dominate the best locations to achieve an investment trifecta.
REA Group has identified the top 37 locations that offer the investment trifecta - affordability, solid capital growth and high yields.
It analysed the investment potential of suburbs it had already identified as being in sought-after locations and appealing to families.
The results include house and unit suburbs all with prices below national medians, growth above national medians (4% for houses and 3.6% for units) and yields above national medians (4% for houses and 4.9% for units).
Of those 37, 24 are house markets and 21 are unit markets. Queensland and South Australia had the most suburbs where investors could find houses that met the criteria for investment prospects.
In the house market, Rockhampton in Queensland tops the list with the lowest median house price of $359,500, the highest annual price growth of 53% and the highest rental yield at 6.5%.
Kirwan in Townsville, Gatton in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley, Munno Para West and Andrews Farm in Adelaide all made the list, with each recording price growth of more than 20% in the year to February.
Six suburbs in Western Australia are on the house market list, two in New South Wales, and one in Tasmania.
Queensland had eight unit markets on the list, followed by Victoria (4), West Australia (3), Tasmania and the ACT with two, and New South Wales and South Australia with one each.
Wright in the ACT and Mandurah in West Australia topped the list of unit markets with the strongest yields of 5.7%.
Sellers Selecting Auctions in Increasing Numbers
Auctions are continuing to emerge as the selling method of choice, with new data showing the number of properties going under the hammer has soared in the past 15 years.
The number of properties going to auction has increased from 26% of listings in 2009 in Sydney to 48% in 2025.
Melbourne is up from 36% to 56% over the same period, Adelaide is up from 11% to 33%, Canberra from 30% to 49% and Brisbane from 10% to 17%.
CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy says the move to auctions has picked up pace in the past couple of years while it has been a sellers’ market.
“We have seen very low listing levels across the board, which means you are seeing buyers competing for properties, as opposed to when conditions skewed in favour of the buyers, where sellers are competing for the buyers,” she says.
“The use of auctions, as maximising the returns on the property, has become more popular.”
The last week of March was the busiest week of auctions since October 2024, with 2905 auctions held, according to CoreLogic data.
Adelaide had the highest clearance rate of 75.6%, followed by Melbourne, 67.2%, Sydney, 65.5% and Brisbane, 59.5%.
Price Growth Continues
Home prices are continuing to rise throughout Australia, with new data showing that modest growth during March has driven prices up by 3.91% over the past 12 months.
PropTrack data shows that annual price growth in regional centres continues to outpace that of capital cities. Regional West Australia had the highest growth in the past 12 months of 12.3%, while Regional South Australia is up by 11.5%.
The figures show that the Melbourne market is finally starting to achieve some price growth. Its median house price is up 0.1% during March, which has softened its yearly decline to just -2.4%.
The smaller capital cities are the most solid performers in the house market over the past 12 months with Adelaide, up 11.3%, leading the charge, followed by Perth, 11.2%, Brisbane, 8.4% and Darwin, 5.1%.
Sydney is up by 2.9%, Hobart, 2.2%, and the ACT, 0.9%.
PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh says February’s rate cut boosted borrowing capacity and buyer confidence, helping to reignite demand and reverse the small price declines of early 2025.
She says prices in both capital cities and regional areas are sitting at record highs.
In the unit market medians are up 4.5% over the year with Brisbane the best performer, achieving growth of 14.8%, followed by Perth, 14.4% and Adelaide, 11.3%.
Construction Activity Rising
Construction is beginning to slowly rise again with apartments the dominate housing type to be delivered in 2025 and beyond.
Although PRD’s Australian Economic & Property Update says even though residential construction increased slightly in the second half of 2024, the market remains undersupplied.
PRD Chief Economist, Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo, says apartment projects picked up during the second half of the year as they offers buyers more affordable options.
“New dwelling costs in Brisbane and Perth continue to rise due to trade shortages and higher house demand,” she says.
“Units remained the dominant planned ready-to-sell stock in 2024 and in 2025 and beyond. This is true in almost all capital cities (except for Hobart and Adelaide).”
As a result, Mardiasmo says the freestanding house market will remain under-supplied, which will push up prices.
She says rising demand for units is driving prices up in those markets and there is evidence of unit price growth outpacing house price growth in some areas.
Sydney has 32,208 units in the pipeline, Brisbane, 25,184; Melbourne, 20,671; Canberra, 16,594; and Perth, 2590.
Hobart has 710 units in the pipeline while Adelaide has 180 and Darwin, 163.
While Sydney dominates the unit market development pipeline, it also has the highest number of proposed land lots - 8726.
Key Takeaways
📈 Migration Surging, Pushing Up Property Demand
Australia’s population jumped by 484,000 in the year to Sept 2024, placing major pressure on housing supply. This is fuelling both price growth and rental demand, particularly in regional markets like Bendigo and Bunbury, where capital city escapees are driving intense competition.
📍 Regional Markets Take the Lead
REA Group’s latest report names 37 suburbs offering the “investment trifecta”—affordability, capital growth and yield. Most are in regional Queensland and South Australia. Rockhampton, for instance, leads with 53% annual price growth and a 6.5% yield.
🔨 Auctions Back in Vogue
More sellers are turning to auctions to maximise returns. Melbourne leads with 56% of listings sold via auction, while Adelaide has seen the highest clearance rate (75.6%). Auction volumes hit a 5-month high in late March, suggesting strong buyer competition.
🏠 Prices Up Across the Country
National home prices rose 3.91% over the past 12 months. Regional WA and SA lead growth at 12.3% and 11.5% respectively. Capital city leaders include Adelaide (11.3%) and Perth (11.2%). Brisbane is also heating up, especially in the unit market.
🚧 Construction Rebounds—But It’s Not Enough
Residential construction is ticking up, especially in the apartment sector, with Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne leading in unit supply pipelines. Still, freestanding homes remain undersupplied, keeping upward pressure on prices in key family-friendly markets.
As always, success in property comes down to having the right information, the right team, and the right strategy. If you want to make your next move with the confidence and preparedness needed to get the best result, get in touch via 0439754475
Keep an eye out next Saturday for more insights.
Tom Haigh
Director & Licensed Buyers Agent
Groundswell Property - Established 2015
tom@groundswellproperty.net
0439754475