By Meighan Hetherington of Property Pursuit www.propertypursuit.com.au

A common question we are often asked is: "where are the future high growth areas?" Unfortunately there is no definitive answer to this question and don't ever listen to anyone who tells you they can 'guarantee growth"!

The latest median house prices have been released by the Real Estate institute of Queensland (REIQ). In the 12 months to September 2006 prices across Brisbane have risen by 4.5% to a median house price of $375,000.

Top performers for the year have been Seventeen Mile Rocks (35% growth, median price $473,750), Hamilton (34.8% growth, median price $910,000), Spring Hill (34.7% growth, median $675,000), Woolloongabba (22.7% growth, median price $430,000), Windsor (22% growth, median price $457,500).

At the other end of the scale 18 suburbs actually dropped in value over the 12 month period including Murrarie which has shown a drop in the median house price by 17.5%. Does this necessarily mean that Murrarie is not a good Brisbane suburb to buy property? No. There are a number of factors that have contributed to a statistical ‘drop' in median house price for the suburb including a high variation in the quality of houses sold each quarter and a high number of new house developments being sold in the suburb around 1 - 2 years ago.

What do these statistics really mean and how do we look for high potential suburbs?

At a macro level we look at key indicators including:

• Population Growth
• Underlying demand
• Business activity and employment
• Local, state and federal Government planning & development.
• Transport corridors
• Facilities such as shopping, public and private schools

Armed with this information we then need to delve beyond the suburb statistics to see what is happening at a micro level by examining street by street and house by house to get a more accurate assessment of a property.

So although median house prices are a good way to gain a high level understanding of how one suburb compares to another, they are only one very small step in assessing whether a property is the right one for you.