What is a suburb report?
If you’re looking at buying a property, you might want to consider using a suburb report. We’re here to explain what suburb report is and how can you use them to your advantage.
Understanding the lay of the land is crucial when investing in real estate. Without it, investment property strategies may fall short. The good news is there’s an easy way to get all the finer details of a specific location without going through stacks of data. All you need to do is get a suburb report.
What is a suburb report, and where can you get one?
It’s a comprehensive report of a specific suburb that breaks down key statistics. You’ll have important and relevant details right at your fingertips. This report can make it easier for you to decide whether a certain area is an ideal investment opportunity for you.
In a suburb report, you’ll find key details such as:
- A map of the suburb
- The population of the suburb
- The number of dwellings
- Properties currently for sale or for rent
- The number of listings in the last year
- Demographic breakdown
- The number of homeowners and renters
- Median property prices
- Median rent
- Recently sold properties
- Median days the property is on the market
- Annual rental yield
Many of these statistics will also be broken down into further subgroups. For example, the median value of houses versus townhouses versus units, or the percentage of people who are renting compared to buying.
At loans.com.au, you can download a free suburb report, making it easy to check property insights of a specific address.
Making the most out of a suburb report
Because there’s such a wealth of information in a suburb report, some may find parsing through it a bit overwhelming. A helpful way to review a suburb report is by looking for information that’s relevant to you. If you want to buy a rental property, for example, it’s better to look at median rents, annual rental yield, and the number of homeowners and renters in the area.
You can get a better idea of local real estate trends by looking at the suburb report. You could analyse the marketing activity in the suburb by checking out how long properties tend to stay on the market. The estimated number of property sales in the last three months may provide insight on whether it’s a buyer’s or seller’s market.
You can also look at street-by-street information, analysing which streets have the top median value for each property type. Combining this with information on recently sold property means you may leverage the real estate agent to give you a much better deal on your desired property. It can also help reduce the risk of overpaying for a property.
Important points to look at in a suburb report
Here are a few key areas to consider when reviewing a suburb report:
Access and proximity to services
When you’re buying a property, you need to look at the surrounding amenities available. Are there grocery stores, schools, hospitals, and public transport hubs available nearby? The closer a property is to these services, the more desirable it will be.
Supply and demand
The property market can change over time, so it’s important to know the demand for people wanting to move into the location you’re interested in and what new developments are in the pipeline. If a large number of people want to move into the area and vacancy rates drop, that may be good for the time being, but if in a few years there’s a massive amount of finished developments and no one to populate them, the value of the area will likely drop, and your home with it.
Employment growth and consumer confidence
Locations that have strong employment growth usually have a strong correlation with wage growth. Furthermore, good jobs bring in people who want to work these jobs, which helps push up the population. All these factors then contribute to greater consumer confidence, where people have good jobs with money, and they feel confident in spending. This growth can contribute to the overall value of an area and the value of your property.
Capital growth and demographics
Closely linked to the above point, growth in population, employment and wages often lead to capital growth. You can see the past capital growth of a location from the suburb report, but looking to the future will require some work on your part. Looking at the demographics of an area can give you great insight into how the location will perform in the future.
For example, an area with high wage growth and an influx of people will mean a higher disposable income. Demand for the location will likely increase, which in turn can help push up the value.
To find out if the property you are eyeing is the right one for you, download a free property report from loans.com.au. The report includes extensive information about the property you are planning to buy from market-leading property research company CoreLogic.
Find out in under 2 minutes if you qualify for one of our home loans.
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About the article
As Australia's leading online lender, loans.com.au has been helping people into their dream homes and cars for more than 10 years. Our content is written and reviewed by experienced financial experts. The information we provide is general in nature and does not take into account your personal objectives or needs. If you'd like to chat to one of our lending specialists about a home or car loan, contact us on Live Chat or by calling 13 10 90.
