Property investors committed to $11.7 billion of home loans in July 2024, which was one of the highest months on record according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Obaid Naqebullah says those investment loans offer insight into how healthy the property investment sector is, despite the rapid succession of interest rate rises.

How to identify promising suburbs for growth remains the holy grail of property investment, with buyers tasked with having to predict which suburbs are a bargain buy before they are set to boom.

“Spotting growth suburbs can be a tricky game, but there are several indicators that are a solid telltale of whether a suburb is about to grow. Look at demographics, average days on the market, planned infrastructure and whether the suburb has new or renovated homes transforming its credentials as a ‘sleeper’ suburb,” he says.

To gain investment insights, it’s important to analyse property data for signs of growth. The average days on the market that a property spends shows how strong the demand is for the area. The lower the days spent for sale, the higher the desire is to purchase. If properties are selling quickly, it’s a surefire bet that the suburb is a hot spot.

Data from Prop Track shows the average number of days a property is listed on realestate.com.au before it is sold was 42 days for houses and units in August 2024. But properties in up-and-coming suburbs including Skye, Carrum Downs and Tecoma are selling much more quickly, with an average of only 14 to 16 days on the market.

Obaid Naqebullah says when suburbs are selling twice as quickly, that’s an indicator that growth is coming for that district. For units, Carrum, Croydon North, Ringwood East and Wantirna South are suburbs where units are selling faster, in as little as 19 and 20 days.

As a bayside developer, Obaid Naqebullah is confident apartments at their recent project Moor will part of the rising growth suburbs reshaping Melbourne with well-designed homes at an affordable price in a place where people can thrive.