The 56 tiny suburbs punching above their weight

Sprinkled throughout our capitals are a handful of small suburbs — some with a land area less than one square kilometre — that you may not have even heard of unless you’re a local.

Many are made up of just a few streets, but feature highly desirable homes that have surged in value over the past year.

Some of these tiny suburbs have multi-million dollar median prices, double-digit price growth, or both, and are ranked among the top performers in their cities, PropTrack data shows.

While property prices have risen in most capitals over the past year, values in these small suburbs have boomed even more.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said many small suburbs with strong price growth had benefited from the broader uplift in the wider market. 

“Most of the smaller suburbs outperforming their respective capital city are located in regions that are also outperforming,” she said.

“For example, in Brisbane the top performing smaller suburbs are located in Ipswich, a region that is not only one of the highest growth regions in Brisbane, but is one of the highest growth regions in the country.”

The data uses PropTrack's automated valuation model (AVM) to determine a suburb's median house or unit value.

The tiny Sydney suburbs that outperformed the market

Sydney had the largest number of outperforming tiny suburbs, most of which were located close to the CBD, where suburbs tend to be smaller than in outer areas.

Sydney had the largest number of outperforming tiny suburbs, most of which were located close to the CBD, where suburbs tend to be smaller than in outer areas.

Prices in inner city areas of Sydney rebounded last year, with buyers increasingly valuing convenient suburbs close to centres of work – especially investors eyeing strong rental returns amid a surge in net migration.

Little inner city suburbs that outperformed the wider Sydney market included Ultimo (up 14.5%), Waterloo (up 13.9%) and Chippendale (up 13.6%).

But the strongest-performing microburb in the city over the past year was Mays Hill, about 21km west of the CBD near Parramatta. 

Many houses in Mays Hill have high density zoning, with development potentially typically a strong selling point. This three-bedroom house sold for $1.45 million last year. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

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The median house value in the tiny suburb, which is dominated by apartments, jumped almost 20% in a year to $1.337 million – an increase of almost $220,000.

House prices increased almost as fast in Newington, a small suburb near Sydney Olympic Park that was originally developed as an athlete’s village for the 2000 Olympic Games.

The median house value there jumped 18.4% in the past year to $1.819 million, with the value of a typical Newington home rising $282,000 in just 12 months.

Houses in Newington are typically large, freestanding dwellings on compact blocks, appealing to family buyers. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

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Local real estate agent Jacob Saleh of Horwood Nolan said the low volume of properties selling in Newington helped keep prices elevated. 

“It’s very rare that you'll find a lot of homes in Newington coming to the market at one point in time,” he said. “It's a very family oriented area so people tend to stay there for many years.”

Meanwhile, in the tiny inner west suburb of Wareemba, near Five Dock, the median house price rose by almost $329,000 in the past year to $2.818 million.

While most Wareemba homes are freestanding period or mid-century houses, newer duplexes are increasingly appealing to family buyers. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

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Real estate agent Chad Egan of CobdenHayson said buyers often discovered the suburb when browsing in nearby areas, with newly built homes in Wareemba proving popular with young families.

“A lot of people haven't heard of Wareemba because it is so small,” he said. “When anyone is looking in Abbotsford and Russell Lea, Wareemba will still be on their radar.”

“It’s a nice little pocket of the inner west,” he said. “The market there has been pretty solid.”

Not every tiny Sydney suburb that outperformed the market had a multi-million dollar median value. 

Values in Englorie Park and Blair Athol in Sydney’s outer south west jumped by about 8.4% and 8.1% respectively – just higher than Sydney’s annual price growth of about 7.8%. 

Unlike most small Sydney suburbs, Blair Athol is located in the outer suburbs. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

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The median house value in Englorie Park is about $791,000, while a typical house in Blair Athol costs a little over $1 million.

While Sydney had more high-growth microburbs than any other capital, prices rose even more rapidly in several tiny Brisbane suburbs, mostly in the Ipswich region.

The tiny Brisbane suburbs that outperformed the market

Dinmore (up 29.7%), Moores Pocket (up 25.7%) and Basin Pocket (up 24%), as well as Kalinga in the inner north (up 14.1%) had price growth that was higher than Brisbane’s overall house price growth of 12.4%.

Meanwhile, unit prices surged in East Ipswich (up 34.6%), Booval (up 32.9%) and Gaythorne (up 19.4%), topping Brisbane's overall unit growth of 15.1%.

The tiny Perth suburbs that outperformed the market

There were fewer tiny Perth suburbs with outstanding growth than might be expected, given the city’s property market has been the strongest in the nation for the past few years.

House prices grew by 32.6% in Lockridge and 26.7% in Ashfield in the city's northwest, outpacing the 20.8% annual growth in Perth house prices.

House values have jumped by more than 28% in Silver Sands, a tiny suburb near Mandurah on Perth's southern fringe. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

Most of the strongest-performing Perth suburbs are located in more affordable parts of the city further from the CBD, where small suburbs tend to be concentrated.

That said, two tiny coastal suburbs in the Mandurah region, Silver Sands (up 28.1%) and San Remo (up 21.5%) had exceptional growth.

Unit prices jumped about 17% in Highgate and 16.5% in Mount Hawthorn, which was higher than the 14.7% recorded for unit prices in Perth overall.

The tiny Adelaide suburbs that outperformed the market

Suburb	Property type	Median value (AVM)	YoY change (%)	YoY change ($)
Woodville Park	House	$1,833,860	16.7%	$132,768
Joslin	House	$925,698	16.2%	$255,856
Stepney	Unit	$747,763	16.1%	$103,865
Unley Park	Unit	$714,464	15.4%	$86,139
Ottoway	House	$645,144	14.5%	$81,518
Kent Town	Unit	$642,736	14.0%	$87,786
Source: PropTrack. Suburbs ranked by YoY % change in median value to April 2024. Median values only included for suburbs with a minimum of 200 properties with medium / high confidence AVM values.

In Adelaide, unit prices have surged by more than 20% over the past year in several small suburbs, including Henley Beach South (up 25.9%), Ottoway (up 24.8%), Queenstown (up 24.6%) and Woodville Park (up 24.5%).

Median unit values in most of Adelaide’s outperforming compact suburbs are under $600,000, despite values jumping by about $100,000 in some suburbs. 

House prices jumped almost 29% in Elizabeth Grove, a tiny suburb in Adelaide’s north, which has been one of the strongest-performing regions in the country for the past few years. 

Despite that growth, the median home value is about $483,000, with affordability driving demand in the area.

Joslin is one of Adelaide's most expensive suburbs, with large period homes on tree-lined streets. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

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Meanwhile, house prices rose 16.7% in Woodville Park in the northwest, while inner city Joslin had 16.2% growth over the past year, pushing the median value about $256,000 higher.

Joslin benefits from its convenient location in one of Adelaide’s most sought-after districts, according to Klemich Real Estate director Matt Smith.

“The streets are tree lined, the owners are proud of their homes, and it’s a really presentable suburb.”

“It’s nice and close to the city and there’s good quality schooling around it, both private and public.”

The tiny Melbourne suburbs that outperformed the market

Suburb	Property type	Median value (AVM)	YoY change (%)	YoY change ($)
Travancore	Unit	$344,204	5.04%	$16,531
Southbank	Unit	$588,051	3.45%	$19,615
Middle Park	House	$2,669,296	2.91%	$75,420
Princes Hill	House	$1,826,393	1.62%	$29,091
Strathmore	House	$1,473,746	1.37%	$19,909
Source: PropTrack. Suburbs ranked by YoY % change in median value to April 2024. Median values only included for suburbs with a minimum of 200 properties with medium / high confidence AVM values.

In Melbourne, a few compact suburbs had price growth higher than the rest of the city, including Middle Park (up 2.9%), Princes Hill (up 1.6%) and Strathmore (up 1.4%). 

While these figures aren’t as impressive as for small suburbs punching above their weight in the other capitals, these growth rates still topped that of Melbourne as a whole, where house prices have risen less than 1% in the past year amid a straggling home price recovery.

Middle Park is one of Melbourne's most well-known and prestigious suburbs, yet occupies less than one square kilometre. Picture: realestate.com.au/sold

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In Canberra, inner city Forrest was the only especially small suburb to record stronger growth than the city overall, with house values rising 5.2% compared to a 2.2% decline for the city overall.

Only a few Hobart suburbs recorded annual growth in median prices, given the city’s property market hasn’t fully recovered, and none were particularly small. It was a similar situation in Darwin.

Originally published at: https://www.realestate.com.au/news/the-56-tiny-suburbs-punching-above-their-weight/