Shopping for property bargains in the inner suburbs: Finding the lowest priced suburbs within 20km of the CBD

Finding a house or unit within 20km of the capital city that fits a small budget can be difficult, but there are still suburbs located 20km or less from the CBD of each capital city where relative bargains can still be had.

Across the combined capital cities, there are opportunities to purchase homes at prices below citywide median prices in locations that are still relatively close to the city centre. Of course, in the more expensive centres, these opportunities are more difficult to come by. There are still opportunities, however, within 20km of the city centre.

Across the combined capital cities, 34.8% of suburbs within 20km of the respective capital city centre have a median house price below $500,000, while, for units, the figure is a higher 73.6%.

These figures indicate that price sensitive purchasers still have some options closer to the city centre, in particular if they are prepared to purchase a unit.

It must be pointed out that across individual cities, the proportion of homes priced below $500,000 less than 20km from the city centre are quite varied, particularly for houses. Only 3.7% of suburbs less than 20km from the centre of Sydney have a median house price below $500,000 and the figures are also relatively low in Melbourne (21.7%) and Canberra (25.6%).

These results highlight the relatively high cost of houses in these cities and, subsequently, densification of inner city areas is occurring. For units, 42.5% of suburbs within 20km of the Sydney city centre have a median price below $500,000, while in each other capital city more than 65% of suburbs have a median price below $500,000.

Looking at the most affordable suburbs for median house prices across each city, some clear trends emerge from the results. Most of the suburbs are located more than 10km from the city centre; the exceptions are the flood-affected suburbs of Rocklea in Brisbane and Risdon Vale in Hobart.