Fast 50 2024 reveals the best Aussie suburbs for future investment

Touting it as the perfect starting point for residential property investors searching for capital growth in 2024, the brand-new report, which can be downloaded here, delivers new insight into where investors may find the best potential returns in 2024.

According to Phil Tarrant, the managing editor of real estate, the aim was to create a report that represents the perfect starting point for investors to focus their own market research and due diligence.

A culmination of months of planning and research, the Fast 50 report has the key objective of helping property investors decide which markets they should put their money in today for the best capital growth in 2024 and beyond.

Mr Tarrant acknowledges the holy grail of Australian property investment is identifying which locations are poised to grow and why.

“There are endless reports that reveal the suburbs that we’ve all missed out on. These are the ones that have already gone up! But to anyone looking to invest now, what use is that? What investors need to know is, ‘Where’s next?’,” he said.

He acknowledges that by default, most analysts and big real estate data companies are working with out-of-date numbers to shape future market predictions.

“While this is an excellent rearview mirror perspective, it’s more a measure of where you should have invested a year ago, rather than where to put your money today.”

“Moreover, these companies usually shape their analysis and commentary on all properties with a bias to owner-occupiers, often neglecting properties purchased by property investors for the purpose of property investment,” he espoused.

From the managing editor’s perspective, “the best insights are real-time, generated from boots-on-the-ground analysis and information sourced directly from agents and other connected professionals in any given area of assessment. This is called ‘ground truth’.”

He acknowledges this is all the more difficult, given “the backdrop of eye-watering interest rate hikes, spiralling inflation, the spectre of recession, and the COVID-19 hangover”.

“What property investors really need is a crystal ball — but sadly, they only exist in fairy tales,” he commented.

It led Smart Property Investment down the path of creating their own qualitative and quantitative report, generated from expert individual insights and backed by data, that instead of looking backwards, skews forward, and aims to reveal the suburbs tipped to be the next boom locations.

Building the report

Many suburbs named in the Fast 50 are not the hotspots bandied about on TV or overtly marketed in slick brochures.

And there’s a specific reason for that.

To compile the Fast 50, Smart Property Investment asked some of the most trusted names in Australian property for their predictions on the property market and which suburbs they see as offering the most value for investors over the next 12 months, Mr Tarrant outlined.

“We didn’t give them a prescribed list of criteria to make their judgements on; instead, we acknowledge that every property expert measures value in very different ways.”

He explained that the blended approach, which matched research and analysis (which is often held tightly by our experts) and was underpinned by open-source property data, “is unique”.

Those insights and analysis have become the Fast 50, offering a comprehensive and unique list of suburbs that experts agree will be investment strongholds for investment years to come.

Using the report

While many would rank the Fast 50 from 50 through to the top spot, Smart Property Investment instead listed each location in alphabetical order.

Mr Tarrant shared that that’s because every suburb named offers investment appeal at different price points.

“This ensures no specific bias to one suburb over another and reflects the diversity of ‘investable’ suburb locations to suit the strategy needs and outcomes for all investors.”

The report offers a unique perspective on Australian property with the specific objective of generating the best capital return, according to Pure Property Investment CEO Paul Glossop, who partnered with Smart Property Investment for the report.

Reflecting on a “monumental” three years of Australian property, he acknowledged that the report takes into consideration the pandemic, record capital growth and more recent reductions, as well as record rental growth and the influx of international migration.

“This report takes into consideration all these facets and more,” he said.

Mr Glossop advised investors that the best way to leverage the data contained within the report is to “concentrate on the development of a sound strategy for property investment and seamlessly execute it”.

Stating that too often, investors wait around for the best time to invest or a perfect opportunity, he imparted: “Here’s the home truth: it’s always a good time to invest if you’re prepared, [financially] ready, have up-to-date insights and [have] the best team around you.”

The buyer’s agent believes “investors that are serious about capital growth and taking control of their financial future should use this report to support their decision-making, stress test their strategy and capitalise on the opportunity property provides Australians for controlling their financial future”.

Click here to read the FAST 50 report.