The vastly different budgets required to buy in Australia’s most in-demand suburbs – realestate.com.au

Australian house hunters were keen to buy in these hot suburbs in 2025, but values ​​in the most popular areas for property buyers are separated by a multimillion-dollar price gap.

New data has revealed the most desirable suburbs of the past year, revealing a huge price difference between the popular areas topping the charts this year.

While prestigious and expensive areas topped the list of most sought-after suburbs, so did affordable suburbs on the outskirts of capital cities, where buyers can find cheaper properties.

The data tracks the number of top inquiries per property listing on realestate.com.au, a metric used to measure the level of buyer demand in an area.

Key questions include high-goal actions such as emailing an application, calling the agent, or downloading documents – steps that serious buyers take when interested in purchasing a home.

Top 10 most in demand suburbs in Australia – houses

The suburb with the most applications per property advertisement was St Marys in Sydney’s west, with a typical advertisement there receiving 154 applications.

That’s almost four times the national average of 40 applications, indicating St Marys is extremely popular with buyers. Nearby Werington was almost as attractive, with 149 applications per listing.

Both suburbs have been targeted by first home buyers and investors alike in recent times, and with average house prices just above $1 million, these areas are more affordable than most of Sydney.

The second most popular Australian suburb of 2025 was Rocklea in Brisbane’s south, where the median house price of $772,500 increased by almost 19% in the past year.

Brisbane buyers have been eagerly inquiring about homes in Rocklea, in the city’s south. Image: realestate.com.au/sold

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Despite strong buyer demand causing rapid appreciation, it is still much more affordable than most other Brisbane suburbs.

At the other end of the spectrum, homes in Point Piper on Sydney Harbor – one of Australia’s most expensive suburbs – were highly sought after by the very wealthy, typically receiving more than 150 inquiries each.

One of Australia’s most expensive suburbs, Point Piper is also one of the most sought-after suburbs by wealthy buyers. Image: realestate.com.au/sold

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Only a handful of luxury homes come on the market each year in Point Piper, including this $39.5 million five-bedroom mansion and a stately sandstone home that sold for $23.5 million.

Other higher-end suburbs in high demand include Sydney’s harborside suburbs of Rose Bay and Wollstonecraft, where even entry-level homes start at around $3 million and luxury homes are worth many times that amount.

Sydney’s Harbourfront Rose Bay is one of Australia’s most sought-after suburbs. Image: realestate.com.au/sold

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The data shows buyers were also eagerly inquiring about spacious semi-rural properties in Windsor Downs in the northwest and Holgate on the Central Coast, where a budget of $2 million to $3 million can afford a large house and lots of land.

While Sydney dominated the top 10 most in-demand suburbs, affordable wallets were also sought after in other cities.

The Melbourne suburbs where the most buyers were interested were in the city’s more affordable north, including Coolaroo, Dallas and Campbellfield – areas popular with both interstate investors and local first-home buyers, where homes typically sell for between $600,000 and $800,000.

This three-bedroom house in Campbellfield – one of Melbourne’s most sought-after suburbs – sold last month for $789,500. Image: realestate.com.au/sold

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REA Group senior economist Eleanor Creagh said many sought-after suburbs in Sydney’s west and Melbourne’s outer northern suburbs offered a much more affordable entry point into the property market than those closer to the city.

“Buyers are trading longer commute times for more space and affordability, and these areas also often benefit from continued infrastructure investment,” she said.

Ms Creagh said strong demand could put upward pressure on prices as more buyers compete for the properties coming onto the market.

In Brisbane, the southern suburbs were a hit, with homes in Darra, Woodridge and Logan Central seeing the most demand, while homes in these suburbs typically sold for between $700,000 and $900,000.

Homes for sale in Adelaide Hills suburbs such as Summertown, Stirling and Upper Sturt were likely to see strong inquiries, but inner suburbs such as Welland and College Park were also attracting buyer interest.

Semi-rural suburbs with spacious homes remain in high demand, including Stirling in the Adelaide Hills. Image: realestate.com.au/sold

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Popular Perth suburbs include more expensive postcodes close to the city, such as Floreat and Wembley, where average house prices are around $2 million, as well as the southern suburbs of White Gum Valley, Palmyra and Bateman, which tend to be slightly more affordable.

The most in-demand suburbs for unit buyers were slightly more spread out than for houses, with six of the top 10 in Brisbane and the rest in Sydney.

Darlington in central Sydney took first place, with 164 applications for a typical apartment for sale.

Most of Sydney’s suburbs, where much unit research was done, were in the west of the city, including Fairfield Heights and Parklea.

Brisbane’s most popular suburbs with unit buyers include inner suburbs such as Herston, Spring Hill and Dutton Park, while southern suburbs such as Upper Mount Gravatt, Logan Central and Meadowbrook rank highly.

Downtown Darlington had the highest number of applications per unit advertisement. Image: realestate.com.au/sold

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Buyers of units in Melbourne were interested in inland suburbs such as Caulfield East and Ripponlea, as well as the northern suburbs of Broadmeadows and Craigieburn.

Buyers in Perth favored coastal suburbs such as Fremantle and North Beach, as well as inland areas including Glendalough and Joondanna.