With 2019 now firmly behind us, it's time to take a closer look at the decade that was. In order to put the current property market into some perspective, and see why some areas are moving much faster than others, it's important to analyse the biggest movers and shakers over the past 10 years. Using data from realestate.com.au, let's take a look at the top growth suburbs across Australia over the last decade.  

Some suburban markets in Sydney and Melbourne have exploded over the last 10 years, as have certain rural areas such as Byron Bay. While most significant growth areas are located in inner-city neighbourhoods, there are examples of solid growth across the country in a number of diverse locations. The data collected is based on a change in median price over 10 years, which is calculated as the percentage difference between the median sale price in a 12 month period.

North Melbourne led the way for growth in Australia over the decade, with a massive increase of 240% recorded. Located just 2.5 km from the Melbourne CBD, the median price in North Melbourne grew from $348,000 to $1.2 million between 2009 and 2019. Cabramatta led the way in NSW, from $360,000 to $820,000 over the decade, or a rise of 128%. The trendy areas of Melbourne's inner-north also saw tremendous growth over the decade, as did Newtown, Petersham, and Bondi Junction in Sydney just to name a few. 

While most of the top growth spots were in NSW or Victoria, somewhat surprisingly, Rosebury in the Northern Territory was the next best performing location by state at $238,000 to $500,000, or 110%. The next highest growth suburb by state was Kingston Beach in Tasmania at 81%, Paddington in Queensland at 72%, Campbell in the ACT at 70%, Somerton Park in SA at 68%, and Trigg in WA at 34%. As you can see, there is still a two-speed market in Australia at the top of the table, or even a three-speed market if you consider the weak results in Western Australia. 

According to Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at realestate.com.au, there has been significant changes across Australia over the past decade: “The most exciting one was seeing western Melbourne take off – that was great... I’ve been away from Melbourne for nearly five years and it’s really dramatic how more working class suburbs like Sunshine have now become popular suburbs for younger people, and as a result, we are starting to see early signs of gentrification."

Not all of the growth has been restricted to trendy neighbourhoods in big cities, with some regional towns also seeing some action. “Many regional areas have also taken off – places like Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, and Hobart, we have seen huge amounts of change over the years." said Consibee, adding "Northern New South Wales and southern Gold Coast have also seen a very high increase in levels of demand.” While forecasting growth over the next decade is certainly not easy, Consibee recommends looking "for the suburbs switching from elderly people to young people, at least for capital cities."