Queensland remained the top spot for many first-home buyers this year, with Surfer’s Paradise rising as the most popular suburb.

REA Group and PropTrack’s Regional Australia Report 2021 revealed 15 most enquired suburbs by first-home buyers over the past year.

“Many of the top enquired suburbs are within commuting distance of metropolitan centres, but also offer lifestyle amenities in close proximity,” the report said.

“This highlights the significant trend toward affordable and commutable regional areas.”

First-home buyers are looking to get a unit at Surfers Paradise in the Gold Coast, which has an average valuation of $430,000.

Houses in the Gold Coast’s Coomera has the highest average value of all suburbs in the list at $655,000.

On the other hand, the lowest average value was for Labrador’s units at $380,000.

PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said many city-skippers are going to regions on the outskirts of metropolitan areas.

“These commutable regions are seeing strong price growth, with new homebuyers taking advantage of both the ability to maintain office connections one or two days a week and the amenities provided by the regional lifestyle,” Ms Creagh said.

The surging demand has kickstarted the regional renaissance, as house values rose at their fastest in 35 years.

“Queensland has emerged as the face of the regional renaissance for the second year in a row, with demand from property buyers highest in Queensland and the sunshine state saturating the most searched list,” Ms Creagh said.

Over the year to September, dwellings in regional areas were able to record a 30% growth in values.

“Price growth in the regions is therefore likely to continue, but moderate from current levels,” Ms Creagh said.

“Already the pace of price growth is slowing across the broad market, and we expect that to continue with the peak of the current cycle now behind us.”

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Photo by Jimmy Conover on Unsplash.