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No city does it better than Canberra. Six suburbs make the list, which is remarkable for a city its size, and they carry the lowest investor shares in the country. Four suburbs sit in the new estates of Gungahlin in the north, the other two in Molonglo Valley to the west. Taylor stands out most: the youngest suburb on the list, and second-lowest for investors at just 9 per cent. As Canberra grew 70 per cent over the decade, Taylor more than doubled it, at 162 per cent.
Perth's young buyers are far more scattered. Nine suburbs make the list, ringing the city on every side from Ellenbrook and Carramar in the north to Baldivis, Wellard and Singleton in the south. Young buyers have spread out across the city where affordability still lives. Seville Grove deserves a special mention as one of Perth's cheapest at $758,000 even after a 120 per cent 10-year growth (second only to neighbouring Armadale), and with just 18 per cent of homes held by investors.
Sydney ties with Perth at nine, but every one sits in the West or South West, from Bidwill and Lethbridge Park out past Mount Druitt to Ashcroft, Lurnea and Hoxton Park around Liverpool. These are the last footholds young buyers have left in the city. And here, "affordable" is only relative: Greenacre's median is $1.48 million and Condell Park's $1.47 million, while even the cheapest suburbs near Mount Druitt sit close to $880,000. Growth has been slower too, only just ahead of the city's own soft decade. But in a market this steep, simply getting in and staying ahead of it is its own kind of win.
It's easy to assume young Australians have given up on owning. Instead, these suburbs say otherwise. There's a pocket of the market where under-35s are getting ahead twice over by buying earlier and growing faster.
