OK, I admit it. I’m a sucker for great clickbait.

A top five list of winter boots, how to negotiate screen time with your kids, or 12 habits of women with great hair.

I’ve clicked them all in the hope I can be better dressed, pry my kids from their phones, or have perfectly glossy hair.

Inevitably, I’m often disappointed with the advice dispensed — am I really going to rinse my hair with vinegar? And yet, it still doesn’t stop me from clicking. I’m now trying some clickbait of my own by looking at the top suburbs for 2017.

At realestate.com.au we have the data to make a number of predictions about what to look for in 2017. And if the clickbait has worked and you’ve got this far, you’re about to be armed with some information that could help you outsmart the Joneses this year.

One of the most common questions is, where should I buy?

Buying property is likely the biggest financial decision we make in our lives and we don’t want to stuff it up.

Affordability

Affordability is a big issue in Australia, particularly if you’re in Sydney, or increasingly Melbourne. Last year, we started to see affordable areas move up our list of most popular suburbs — measured by the number of people looking to buy compared with listings — as well as featuring in our list of quickest-selling suburbs. These suburbs shared a common theme. They feature lots of houses in line with the most searched refinements on realestate. com.au — four bedroom, two bathrooms, two car parks at a price not far from the median for that city.

In 2017, we’ll surely see this continue, which means suburbs such as Kalorama and Upwey in Melbourne, North Plympton in Adelaide, Craigie in Perth and pretty much everywhere in Tasmania will continue to see demand, and likely subsequent price increases. The lack of affordable options in Sydney will continue to drive demand on the Central Coast, while the Gold Coast region should continue to perform above expectations.

Shopping around

Shopping online is increasingly popular, but it doesn’t appear to have affected our love for shopping centres. So much so that the apparent desire to live near one has meant nine of the top 10 suburbs with the most sales over $1 million in 2016 were suburbs adjacent to large metro shopping centres. And when a shopping centre is about to be expanded, we love them even more — four of those top 10 suburbs were adjacent to Castle Towers, where a $900m expansion was approved in September 2016.

The suburbs worth looking at this year include those around Westfield Chermside in Brisbane, Highpoint in Melbourne and Coomera Town Centre on the Gold Coast.

Millennials’ choice

Young people want to live where other young people live. Seems obvious, but it’s an important point. A changing demographic profile from old to young is a big driver of price growth, and places such as the inner west of Sydney and Prahran and Windsor in Melbourne have seen some of the strongest price growth over the past five years.

These places are particularly attractive to millennials, initially providing affordable housing, but also the restaurants, cafes and night life that make them fun places to live. With these areas becoming increasingly expensive, look to areas north of Melbourne such as Coburg, Thornbury and Preston, and suburbs south of Sydney with a high proportion of older people ready for revitalisation, such as Taren Point and San Souci.

Follow the renters

We regularly track suburbs popular with renters as they provide insight into which areas need more investors. Not surprisingly, these suburbs tend to be in low development areas, rich in the type of amenities attractive to young people. In Melbourne, known for high levels of rental supply, suburbs such as Clifton Hill, Carlton North and North Fitzroy rank highly. In Sydney, it is beachside locations such as Balgowlah and Queenscliff, while the Gold Coast dominates in Queensland.

At present, it would seem we are heading into a period of slower price growth, partly due to banks increasing interest rates, but also because of some negative economic data at the end of last year.

If this is the case, understanding which areas are likely to perform better, and why, becomes even more important.

My No 1 pick for 2017 is NSW’s Central Coast. It ticks all the boxes: beaches, lifestyle, affordable prices, within commuting distance of Sydney and, most importantly, a rapid rise in popularity.

This article first appeared in The Australian on February 2, 2017.

Nerida Conisbee is chief economist for REA Group.

Nerida Conisbee is on the BRICKX Adviser Panel.

The opinions and beliefs expressed by the authors and forum participants as part of this communication do not necessarily reflect the opinions and beliefs of BrickX, BrickX Financial Services or other entities within the BrickX group.

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