Blink & You'll Miss It Suburbs Penrith & More
As the spring selling season takes hold, buyer demand and a lack of stock mean properties in some suburbs are changing hands within just a week or two.
Townsville is the hottest market in Australia, with homes in some of its suburbs selling faster than anywhere else.
PropTrack data shows that in the Townsville suburb of Douglas, it takes on average seven days for a unit to sell and nine days for a house to sell in Condon.
REA Group executive manager of economics, Angus Moore, says the city has been inundated by southern buyers heading north, with investors seeking affordable properties with high rental yields.
Sydney’s fastest-selling suburbs are in the more affordable regions of Penrith and Macarthur, including the suburbs of Jamisontown and Werrington County, where houses typically sell within 12 days.
Melbourne’s fastest-selling suburb is Carrum Downs, where houses trade on average within 11 days, while Pinjarra houses and Bassendean units also sell within 11 days in Western Australia.
In South Australia, Goolwa South houses trade in 22 days, and in Tasmania, Summer Hill is the fastest-selling house market (17 days).
In the Northern Territory, Gunn has the lowest days on market of 44 days.
Profits Hit Record High
While the number of sellers achieving a nominal profit dropped slightly in the past quarter, the amount of profit has lifted to record levels.
Cotality’s June quarter 2025 Pain and Gain report shows the number of profit-making resales dropped to 94.8% from 95% in the previous quarter.
The median profit achieved hit $315,000, while the median loss dropped to $42,000. Sellers in Kiama on the south coast of New South Wales achieved the highest median profit of $758,000.
Total profits during the quarter hit $36.6 billion, up from $33.3 billion in the previous quarter, while losses increased from $265 million to $292 million.
Brisbane is the most profitable capital city for the third consecutive quarter, with 99.7% of house resales making a nominal gain and 99.8% unit sales.
In the house market, Adelaide is next (99.2%), Perth (98.7%), Sydney (98.5%), Melbourne (95.8%), Canberra (94.7%) and Hobart (93.2%).
Although there has been a solid increase in transactions in Darwin in the past six months, only 88.8% of house sales achieved a nominal profit in the quarter.
Vacancy Rates Remain Tight
Vacancy rates held steady throughout August and remain at 1.2% with 37,742 vacant dwellings now across Australia.
SQM Research data shows that nationally, the number of vacant properties only dropped by 121 between July and August.
There have been some slight drops in Sydney, down to 1.4% from 1.5% and Hobart, down to 0.5% from 0.6%.
There were marginal increases in Canberra (now 1.6%) and Brisbane (1.0%), while vacancy rates remain steady in Melbourne (1.8%), Adelaide (0.8%) and Darwin (0.5%).
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher says there is still a shortage of available rental properties in all capital cities, which is resulting in higher rents.
“Hobart and Darwin stand out with double-digit annual rent growth, driven largely by unit demand,” he says.
“Nationally, rents continue to edge higher, particularly for units, which are now outperforming houses in most capitals.”
Christopher says overall, the rental market remains tight. Advertised rents increased by 0.4% in August, resulting in a 4.6% increase year on yea,r with unit rents rising faster than house rents.
