One Migrant Group’s Neighbourhoods Grew 48% … And It’s Not the Chinese

Our analysis reveals how canny new migrants are benefiting from Australia’s property boom, and why Westerners are falling behind.

It’s a sensitive subject, but not all ethnic groups are profiting equally in Australia’s property boom. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. Our findings tell a different story to the stereotype of the Anglo Australian baby-boomer couple as the key beneficiary of the property growth.

I’ve often asked people “what do you think is the strongest demographic factor that influences growth”? Chinese, and other migrants, often laugh and say something like “Do you really want me to say? It’s not politically correct”.

At Microburbs, we use data science, machine learning and big data analytics to explain Australia’s real estate market. As such we’re very interested in growth factors, and leading growth indicators. The clear growth indicator nobody is talking about is ethnic and migrant communities. Areas where some migrant groups concentrate have greatly outperformed the average.

Our research has found that Microburbs with the highest proportions of indigenous and Northern European people did not grow much in the past 5 years, while southern European and Asian dominated areas mostly did incredibly well.

How did we find this? We started with Microburbs – small areas of a few blocks, with around 400 people. We then picked the 500 Microburbs that were the most concentrated for each ancestry using data from the 2011 census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Next we looked at the price of property in those top 500 Microburbs for that ethnicity and compared the 2012 median property price to the 2016 median property price to get a growth rate.

So, is it the Chinese who are most prevalent in the high growth areas? Well, there is certainly a correlation between Chinese areas and high growth, but the ethnic group which is associated with the best performing areas is actually the Lebanese. 

Birthplace of parents Median house price 2012 Median house price 2016 Growth Top suburbs (% growth)
Lebanese $540,000 $800,500 48% South Granville (74%), Greenacre (55%), Condell Park (36%)
Chinese $785,000 $1,150,000 46% Berala (33%), Eastwood (NSW) (62%), Hurstville (75%)
Korean $814,000 $1,170,000 44% Dundas Valley (84%), Eastwood (NSW) (62%), Oatlands (NSW) (41%)
Greek $768,400 $1,100,000 43% Sans Souci (57%), Earlwood (58%), Kingsgrove (57%)
Vietnamese $430,000 $595,000 38% Cabramatta (48%), Cabramatta West (60%), Canley Vale (78%)
Spanish $445,000 $604,250 36% Wetherill Park (80%), Hinchinbrook (NSW) (46%), Bossley Park(53%)
Croatian $480,000 $630,000 31% Forde (21%), Munster (9%), Oran Park (25%)
Filipino $460,000 $595,000 29% Burnside Heights (28%), Plumpton (NSW) (51%), Ropes Crossing(43%)
Maltese $460,000 $588,145 28% Taylors Hill (17%), Catherine Field (28%), Oran Park (25%)
Serbian $445,000 $561,000 26% Bonnyrigg Heights (46%), Dandenong North (34%), Mount Pritchard (77%)
Russian $691,500 $850,000 23% McKinnon (64%), Bentleigh East (61%), Carnegie (63%)
Polish $435,000 $529,975 22% Ardeer (32%), Bell Park (21%), Brighton East (53%)
Indian $515,000 $620,000 20% Wentworthville (54%), Parklea (43%), Girraween (NSW) (57%)
Dutch $390,000 $465,000 19% Mount Evelyn (33%), Monbulk (20%), Officer (-4%)
New Zealander $420,000 $495,000 18% Upper Coomera (19%), Maudsland (19%), Pacific Pines (16%)
Welsh $451,500 $525,000 16% Secret Harbour (7%), Apollo Bay (Vic.) (16%), Coal Point (14%)
Hungarian $487,500 $560,000 15% Selby (-1%), Hindmarsh Island (-3%), Bell Post Hill (1%)
Maori $355,000 $405,000 14% Upper Coomera (19%), Marsden (23%), Meadowbrook (10%)
Sinhalese $487,000 $548,750 13% Lynbrook (28%), Roxburgh Park (16%), Lyndhurst (Vic.) (32%)
Macedonian $489,000 $550,000 12% Port Kembla (38%), Banksia (64%), Lalor (33%)
English $420,000 $470,000 12% Stirling (SA) (25%), Bridgetown (22%), Mindarie (WA) (24%)
Italian $600,000 $665,000 11% Ingham (-17%), Greenvale (Vic.) (4%), Haberfield (71%)
South African $650,000 $720,000 11% Moggill (9%), St Ives Chase (72%), St Ives (NSW) (63%)
Australian $292,000 $318,500 9% South Grafton (-4%), Gilgandra (24%), Aberdeen (NSW) (-26%)
Turkish $440,000 $462,000 5% Auburn (NSW) (72%), Meadow Heights (12%), Roxburgh Park(16%)
Scottish $515,000 $518,000 1% Aireys Inlet (18%), Sorrento (Vic.) (13%), Lorne (Vic.) (-12%)
German $309,000 $310,000 0% Gatton (19%), Murray Bridge (15%), Boonah (Qld) (0%)
French $660,000 $660,000 0% Killarney Heights (44%), Apollo Bay (Vic.) (16%), South Coogee(62%)
Australian Aboriginal $303,750 $299,000 -2% Murgon (-10%), Goolwa South (11%), Kuranda (1%)
Irish $617,000 $586,250 -5% Apollo Bay (Vic.) (16%), Bardon (4%), Ashgrove (23%)

Now you might be thinking that this is clear evidence that some ethnic groups are sharper investors than others. It’s not that simple though. We have a connection, sure, but there’s more to the story.

Firstly, areas where people report their ethnicity as “Australian” or from the British Isles tend to settle in rural and regional areas, which don’t show strong growth. Take the Scottish community in Lorne, Victoria, which has seen median property prices fall 12% in the last 4 years in their town.

This is similar for people of Northern European ancestry. They seem to prefer living in places where there is more space, and as  such more land. Australia’s most German areas include Murray Bridge in regional SA and Boonah in regional QLD, for instance.

Asian migrants, on the other hand, tend to move into big cities and high density areas – close to shops and work. These areas tend to be short on land already, and increased popularity with an ethnic community increases demand, which drives price growth. They also tend to drive NAPLAN scores up.

Heading out of the cities, the link between indigenous communities and decreased median prices is explained by these communities typically being in very remote regional areas. Our country towns have certainly not shared equally in the recent property price growth.

It’s also worth noting that we’re comparing where these communities were living in 2011 with the increased cost of buying property. There’s every chance that these properties are being rented by the occupants and the beneficial owners could be from a totally different demographic. 

We can clearly see that different ethnic communities come to Australia seeking different lifestyles, which leads them to settle in different areas.

A quick and clever way to demonstrate these cultural differences is with a few Google Image searches. By translating ‘Australia’ into several languages and running a google image search, you’ll see very different Australias for different languages.

Searching for the word “Australia” in Arabic and Chinese gives you Australia’s most exclusive real estate, the Sydney Harbour foreshore:

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While searching for “Australia” in French and German gives you dirt cheap real estate, The Outback:

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So if Northern Europeans aspire to nature and wide open spaces, they can have it, and cheaply. But they shouldn’t be surprised not to do see any capital growth, because the very thing that attracts them to it – the expansive land – means also that there’s endless supply thereof.

So we can see the Western love of nature improving their housing affordability but also depriving them of capital growth.  

On the flip side, successive waves of immigrants who aspire to our big cities will continue to benefit from the fact that demand outweighs supply in those areas, assuming they can get a foot on the property ladder.

To identify migrant communities and explore the ethnic make up of your potential investment areas, search for the suburb or address below and head to the Ethnicity section of any Microburbs report.

For press enquiries about this article, please call Microburbs Founder Luke Metcalfe on 0414 183 210.

Property Is Still The Path To Wealth: HILDA data released

Property is still the path to wealth in Australia, and our over 65’s have not forgotten it.

This week, the HILDA (Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia) Survey results were released. These are essential updates for Australian property investors available here. Until you have a chance to peruse the full 124 page report, we’ve collected our key take-away points for property investors. 

Home owners to become a minority in 2017

Home ownership rates have been falling steadily since 2002, when the survey began. The latest results show only 53% of Australians are home owners, with home owners expected to become a minority in 2017.

Property ownership is concentrating with older Australians

The fall in home ownership is not evenly distributed. It’s young people who are increasingly unlikely to own a home, with ownership rates amongst 25-34’s falling from 40 percent to 30 percent.

 

On a household level, households headed by a 25-34 year old have gone from 60 percent home ownership rate to 47 percent.

Where are these homes going? Older Australians show a matching increase in investment property purchases. In 2006, 8 percent of investment property landlords were over65, and in 2014 it was 13 percent. It’s easy to see that those with equity in the property market are beating out newcomers, and that those who have tasted strong capital gains are keen to build their portfolios.

 

Property Investment is still the path to wealth

Median wealth increases between 2002 and 2014 have not been equal among age groups. Those aged over 65 have enjoyed a whopping 61 percent increase in median wealth between 2002 and 2014, while 25 to 34 year olds have had just a 3 percent increase, despite being of working age.

It’s no coincidence that over 65’s in Australia own more of the property and have enjoyed more wealth increases. Tax incentives and a strong property market have proved that it’s property that makes money, and the more property you can own, the more money you can make.

Tenant Rates Across Australian Cities

At Microburbs, we know that owner-occupiers and renters don’t usually live in all the same places. There are distinct investment property areas and home owner areas. Typically it’s units and compact, low maintenance housing around transit hubs which make good investment properties, and large houses with matching yards out in the suburban fringes which are better suited to owner-occupiers.

Melbourne Tenant Rate Map

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Sydney Tenant Rate Map

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Brisbane Tent Rate Map

Tent Rates for Brisbane

Perth Tentant Rate Map

We map tenancy rates at a Microburb level under our Affluence Report section. This way, you can see within a suburb where you’re considering investment, where the rental properties tend to be.

You can get the tenancy rate and Affluence Report for any address in Australia by searching here.  

For press enquiries about this article, please call Microburbs Founder Luke Metcalfe on 0414 183 210.

Australia’s Hippest Universities Ranked By Their Microburbs

So you’ve decided to go to uni but not sure which uni will have a great student life to accompany your degree. You also want to live in an area that is affordable but isn’t boring. On top of all that, you want your uni to have a good academic ranking.
Using the Microburbs ‘Hip’ score, we’ve found the Universities in Australia that have great ethnic diversity, are easy to cycle to, have plenty of young singles and plenty of good cafes, pubs and bars. We’ve put our 5 favourites from the list that will be useful for uni students and investors. The full top 10 is at the bottom. Whilst there are 43 universities in Australia, we’ve focused our list on regional unis as well as some of the ‘group of eight’.

5. Southern Cross University (Lismore Campus):

Hip Score 8 / Rent from $160 per week /Australian Uni Rank 23rd
Lismore is just a 40 minute bus to Australia’s most hyped regional sin city Nimbin and 44 minute bus to the world famous Byron Bay; two of the most ‘go to’ tourist destinations in regional Australia. Lismore itself does boast a surprising amount to do, including access to 30 different restaurants, the regional art gallery and the heritage listed rainforest.

4. Griffith University (Gold Coast Campus)

Hip Score 7 / Rent from $130 per week /Australian Uni Rank 16th
With just a 15 minute drive to both Main Beach and Surfers Paradise, you can explore everything that Australia’s 6th largest city has to offer from the theme parks, nightlife, huge beaches and plenty of young, friendly European tourists to mingle with.
Whilst many students live on campus, the north-eastern side of Parkwood is also popular with a hip score of 7/10.

3. University of Newcastle

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Hip Score 8.5 / Rent from $120 per week / Australian Uni Rank 13th

Located 12km from Newcastle city centre, UoN is a popular second choice for aspiring medicine students from Sydney. Newcastle city itself has a hip score of 8/10 and is well known for Nobby’s beach, the vivid nightlife but also the Newcastle night markets which feature street foods, craft beers and artisan foods. Near the beach and around train stations is most popular for student accommodation which have a hip score touching 8.5/10

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Other popular suburbs for students include Birmingham Gardens, Jesmond and Warratah West which have an average hip score of 7/10.

2. University of Sydney

Hip Score 10 / Rent from $130 a week / Australian Uni Rank 3rd

The oldest university in Australia is conveniently placed in the city’s inner west; a cultural hub of underground music venues, Newtown night markets, good food and wine festival plus the occasional do-it-yourself Cafe.

Some have criticised Sydney’s recent lockout laws for having had a dampening effect on Sydney’s nightlife. However, this hasn’t stopped vast amount of international music acts regularly coming to perform in the venues like the Enmore Theatre, Oxford Art Factory and much more.

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The top suburbs for students include Camperdown, Newtown, Chippendale, Surry Hills & Ultimo which have an average hip score of 10/10.

1. University of Melbourne

Hip Score 10 / Rent from $150 per week /Australian Uni Rank 2nd

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Melbourne just takes the top spot after Sydney with a higher hip score and an even better academic reputation. What Melbourne lacks in harbour bridges and opera houses is made up for in laneways and trams, 24 hour nightlife and no lockout laws which make it a great playground for uni students.

Fitzroy (pictured above) was recently named one of the world’s most hipster suburbs and is located just 5 minutes from the uni.

Microburbs founder and lead analyst Luke Metcalfe says “Melbourne is the clear leader among Australian cities for hip score. Sydney may have a strong cluster of very hip suburbs, but when the city is considered overall, Melbourne scores higher.” Australia’s #2 university in the heart of Australia’s hippest city, all with reasonable rents makes the University of Melbourne our hip uni winner.

The full list of the top 10 is below:

 

Rank University Australian Ranking Hip Score Lowest Rent
10. University of Tasmania 19th 7/10 $160 per week
9. The University of Western Australia 7th 7/10 $190 per week
8. Southern Cross University (Lismore Campus) 23rd 8/10 $160 per week
7. University of New England (Tamworth) 29th 8/10 $175 per week
6. University of New South Wales 4th 8/10 $150 per week
5. University of Newcastle 13th 8.5/10 $120 per week
4. University of Adelaide 8th 9/10 $150 per week
3. University of Sydney/UTS 3rd/9th 10/10 $130 per week
2. RMIT (Melbourne) 14th 10/10 $150 per week
1. University of Melbourne 2nd 10/10 $150 per week

Sources:
http://www.australianuniversities.com.au/rankings/
http://goodeducation.com.au/queensland-regional-universities-are-top-performers/

You can find your uni’s hip score and Microburbs report now, just by searching here.

 
For press enquiries about this article, please call Microburbs Founder Luke Metcalfe on 0414 183 210.

Flight of the Funky – Escaping Sydney to find hip suburbs below the million dollar median

If there’s one thing we’ve learned from our analysis of Sydney’s hippest suburbs, it’s that the inner city lifestyle doesn’t come cheap. That’s not the end of the world while you’re renting, but what happens when it’s time to buy? The bad news is that hip suburbs in the Sydney basin simply don’t come in under the city’s near million dollar median. The good news though, is that there are plenty of hip communities around the state if you know where to look. We’ve scoured NSW to find places with high hip scores and low house prices for those who might still need to visit Sydney on occasion. The results are a surprising mix of hip, happening and about-to-happen destinations.

5) Bellingen

Located just south of Coffs Harbour, this small town is ringed by a number of collectives and communes, and is the undoubted cultural hub of the Coffs Harbour region. As reflected in the relatively high house prices for such a remote town, funky people have been drawn from Sydney to Bellingen for over 40 years now. It’s not too late though, with the prices in Bellingen still trailing Byron Bay by a country mile. 

Median House Price: $510,000

Hip Score: 7

Hours Drive from Sydney: 6

4) Merimbula

Coastal Merimbula is a popular tourist destination and a beautiful town, featuring 2 large lagoon lakes and long picturesque beaches. Our analysis shows quite a strong showing of hip amenities like alternative therapies, cafes and restaurants and arts venues. There’s an annual winter jazz festival to show evidence of a local arts scene, but for now, Merimbula’s hipster potential is staying low key. All of our indicators show that this is a hipster powder-keg just waiting for a spark.

Median House Price: $431,000

Hip Score: 7

Hours Drive from Sydney: 6

3) Tamworth

Situated about halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, the New England town of Tamworth is a cultural hub of live music venues, art galleries and hand crafts. Combined with the low cost of living, it has all of the ingredients for a hipster’s paradise but for one factor – country music. Tamworth is famously the country music capital of Australia, and if your idea of hipness has to include progressive far-left politics, then Tamworth might not be your bag.

Median House Price: $342,000

Hip Score: 7

Hours Drive from Sydney: 5

2) Tighes Hill (Newcastle)

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Tighes Hill, along with neighbouring Islington and Carrington, is an old industrial area with heritage working class housing. Nestled between the CBD and the coast, Tighes Hill has a lot of residents who can cycle or walk to work or uni, and double the rate of creative professionals than the broader Newcastle area. Tighes Hill could be perfect for those who want the convenience and cultural diversity of Sydney’s inner suburbs, but at around half the price.

Median House Price: $565,000

Hip Score: 8

Hours Drive from Sydney: 2

1) Katoomba

This 19th Century resort-town in the Blue Mountains is still a major tourist attraction featuring the 3 Sisters Lookout and the Scenic World railway/skyway attractions. A long term shift from overnight and long stay tours to day trips has left the town rich in heritage buildings, but a little light on for tourists. This has set the scene for a burgeoning bohemian community, best observed at the annual Winter Magic solstice festival.

Median house price: $510,000

Hip Score: 8

Hours Drive from Sydney: 1.5

The tricky thing about hipster havens is that there are probably some great spots so underground that even we haven’t heard of them yet. You can use Microburbs to hunt for your own perfect area though. The Hip Score panel on all Microburbs reports breaks down the data behind the score. It also maps hip bars and restaurants in the area, with travel time, directions and ratings.

You can find your suburb’s hip score and Microburbs report now, just by searching here.

For press enquiries about this article, please call Microburbs Founder Luke Metcalfe on 0414 183 210.