Australia’s best investment property locations for $500,000

“Specifically the inner-eastern corridor from Surry Hills through Darlinghurst to nearby Potts Point, where you can still purchase studio and some one-bedroom units for under $500,000,” the report said.

Units in that region produce strong rental returns and often present opportunities to add value, according to the report.

The key suburbs in western Sydney were Blacktown, St Clair, Colyton and St Marys.

In Melbourne, outer northern suburbs such as Bundoora and Epping were highlighted for their public transport connections and educational facilities.

“A strong demand for housing is expected in both suburbs in the coming years owing to the increase in private and government developments,” the report said.

For Brisbane, the analysis suggested that investors search for detached housing within 10 kilometres of the CBD and with strong underlying fundamentals, such as Mount Gravatt.

Alternatively, investors could consider apartments in “steaming hot” inner-city suburbs like New Farm or Newstead.

In Western Australia, Bassendean in Perth was given as an example of a middle-ring suburb with strong growth potential.

Such areas are desirable because they are close to public transport and shops, contain larger housing blocks and feature ageing populations with older housing stock.

In the regions, the authors said Busselton was becoming more desirable and affluent.

“Consequently, this will result in good capital growth over the medium to long term as an increase in population will lead to stronger demand of a product that has limited scope to increase in supply,” the report said.

[Related: How investors can outperform the market]