WA had six of the fastest growing investment suburbs in the nation over the past two years, led by the once-maligned suburb of Armadale. A new joint report from Hotspotting and Washington Brown said Armadale — up 88 per cent over the past two years — had the highest capital gains of any of the cheaper suburbs in Australia in that timeframe.

It was closely followed by Withers in Bunbury (up 85 per cent), Orelia (up 75 per cent), Balga (up 71 per cent) and Midland (up 71 per cent) having the steepest growth of suburbs with a median below $665,000. Gosnells — up 67 per cent — came in ninth on the national top 10 list of suburbs with a median below $665,000, which means WA took out six of the top 10 growth suburbs.

The suburbs appeared to defy Hotspotting’s expectations, which removed Perth suburbs from its list of the nation’s 50 supercharged suburbs more than 18 months ago. It claims the capital had simply run its course and had moved past its peak. Sadly, for first-homebuyers, prices continued to skyrocket over the past 18 months.

Hotspotting’s Terry Ryder on Monday rejected claims that the company’s mid-2024 analysis was wrong, claiming it had always expected Perth prices to continue growing. However, he said Hotspotting mid-2024 projections had attempted to forecast suburbs which were expected to be the best property investment over a three to five-year timeframe — not over the next 18 months. “We didn’t focus on Perth because Perth was already hot,” Mr Ryder said.

But Mr Ryder said investors who had followed advice from The Pulse report by Hotspotting, in late 2023, by buying in any of the 50 locations featured the report, would have achieved growth in values ranging primarily between 30 per cent to almost 90 per cent. Washington Brown chief executive Tyron Hyde noted that Armadale was the nation’s best investment location of the past two years.

The price index used in the report records an 88 per cent increase over the past two years — from $325,000 to $610,000. “Two years ago, we noted there was an uplift in demand from first-homebuyers and investors as well as 450-plus property sales in the past year in Armadale,” Mr Hyde said. “We also indicated that Armadale provided affordable homes near big jobs zones and good transport links and that it was the fourth fastest growing (local government area) in WA.”