One of the best ways to be sure that a property market will be a good performer long-term is to confirm that it’s under-pinned by a strong local economy.

I believe property markets are local in nature and that the strength or otherwise of property markets depends largely on events in their local economies.

So we at Hotspotting are always interested in the economic activity that’s happening in the background, in assessing property markets.

• Is the local economy strong and diversified?
• Is the local economy creating jobs?
• Is the population growing?
• Is there investment in infrastructure happening and/or in planning?

If the answer to all those questions is yes, then there’s a good possibility that the local market you’re looking at will produce growth in its property prices.

Regional Queensland has a significant number of large regional cities with growth economies and big infrastructure spends – but which also offer attractively affordable house prices and higher yields to compensate for rising interest rates.