Homes located in areas that have plenty of walkability are becoming as popular in Australia as those found in the American real estate market. According to realestate.com.au, walkability helps homebuyers asses how easy it is for the locals to get around the community, get to work, public transport and shops on foot. Moreover, online tools and apps help easily locate zones where more houses are near businesses like conveniences stores, cafés, gyms and dry cleaners and even entertainment venue like theaters or movie houses.
With these as big considerations for homebuyers, which Australian suburbs have the most pedestrian friendly zones? According to realestate.com.au, Central Sydney leads the market in terms of walkability with 29 suburbs having a score of at least 90. Trailing behind is Melbourne with 12 suburbs. While Brisbane has five, Perth, Adelaide, Canberra and Newcastle each have one suburb scoring at least 90 for walkability.
So what does walkability contribute to the real estate market of these suburbs? According to Simon Cohen Managing Director of CohenHandler, walkability means better property values as it only means a certain suburb has good access to high residential amenities. Regarding this, this Cohen said, "If you can walk to shops and restaurants and get to work easily, that brings huge lifestyle advantages and people will pay top dollar for it."
He continued, "Many buyers and renters will deliberately trade away accommodation and outdoor space to be in an area like this. I would say that home buyers and investors should pay careful attention to whether an area rates highly in the walkability stakes."
However, according to realestate.com.au, Cohen notes that walkability is not a common feature that most buyers and renters automatically seek. While the ability to walk to work in Sydney may be attractive to professionals, families with kids in other suburbs would prioritize space and walkability to shops where they can buy supplies like mild is only a bonus.
