We don’t mean to state the obvious, but Australia’s rental market ain’t cheap. These days, buying a house anywhere near a major city for less than a million bucks is considered a steal. But if owning that white picket fence property with a beautiful backyard has always been your dream, there are still some Aussie suburbs where you can buy a home for less than $500,000.
Every year, Realestate.com.au releases its expert predictions of the Hot 100 suburbs to watch for price growth, based on a mix of lifestyle, demographic and economic factors. Now, a fresh analysis has spotlighted the most affordable spots on the list – we’re talking major regional suburbs (not in the middle of whoop whoop) – that have also recorded some of the strongest annual price growth. The good news? You can still buy a house in all of these up-and-coming areas for less than the median price of $500,000.
Rockhampton in Queensland came out on top for both affordability and the strongest year-on-year growth for house prices across Australia in 2025. Homes in our nation’s ‘beef and barra capital’ cost a median of $345,000, with that total increasing 48 per cent over the past 12 months and 73 per cent over the past decade.
Located halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, Inverell secured second place for most affordable and strongest year-on-year growth, with a median house price of $380,000, one per cent annual growth and 62 per cent ten-year growth. Other popular regional cities like Geraldton (WA), Shepparton (VIC), Port Lincoln (SA) and Devonport (TAS) also cracked the list, with houses selling for a median of $400,000 to $500,000 in all of these locations.
In Bairnsdale (VIC, ranked fourth) and Braitling (NT, ranked fifth), median house prices even experienced a dip, falling by five and seven per cent respectively. While REA Group’s executive manager of economics, Angus Moore, predicts prices will continue rising across the country in 2025, he believes the pace of growth will slow down. You can take a closer look at the stats for the ten most affordable suburbs in Australia here, or check out our summary below.
Here are the 10 most affordable suburbs for houses in Australia for 2025:
- Rockhampton, QLD
- Inverell, NSW
- Geraldton, WA
- Bairnsdale, VIC
- Braitling, NT
- Shepparton, VIC
- Murray Bridge, SA
- Port Lincoln, SA
- Devonport, TAS
- Kirwan, QLD