Flush with cash? Few Tas suburbs ready to buy now

Sassafras farm Robin Hood’s Well is on the market. No.8108 Bass Hwy, Sassafras. Picture: Supplied

AN under-the-radar suburb has been revealed as the most cash-positive area in Tasmania.

Exclusive Digital Finance Analytics data, commissioned by Betashares, shows the Tasmanian postcodes with the highest disposable income, but only a handful of households have enough in the kitty after rent or mortgage payments to fund a Hobart home or investment purchase.

Most would need to look to regional areas, and even then it would be out of reach for almost all of the 54 Tasmanian locations featured in the report.

DFA found small regional towns Sassafras and Henrietta — home to only hundreds of people — had the highest levels of average spare cash flow.

At $150,309, Sassafras households could afford a 20 per cent deposit, $143,800, for a median priced $719,000 Hobart house, or the $114,000 needed for a Hobart unit.

Henrietta housing hopefuls, with $117,978 cash flow, could get in on a Hobart unit, or a regional house ($108,000 deposit) or a regional unit ($90,000 deposit).

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This median priced Hobart house offers three-bedrooms and two-bathrooms. No.9 White Ct, Kingston is listed with Fall Real Estate in the mid-$700,000s.

Around Hobart’s median unit price buyers could purchase No.1/7 Nugent Rd, Sorell, a two-bedrooms home for sale with Raine & Horne priced at “Offers over $539,000”.

Households in Battery Point and Seven Mile Beach — some of Tassie’s most affluent areas, and with $1m-plus median house prices — were left on the outside looking in, with $57,279 and $44,748 available.

By DFA’s data, just five postcodes could afford a regional unit deposit: Launceston’s Perth, Mengha in the northwest and Burnie suburb Acton, alongside Sassafras and Henrietta.

For sale: No.9 Conservatory Rd Sassafras (McGrath Estate Agents).

No.8108 Bass Hwy, Sassafras is for sale with Peter Lees Real Estate.

DFA director Martin North said younger generations had missed the opportunity of older homeowners to build cash reserves, as soaring house prices had outpaced wage growth.

Housing costs were about three times typical incomes in the 1990s, but that’s grown to eight times income in much of the country, he said.

“Younger generations are more likely to be renting, living further out, and or have a lot less paid down on their mortgages,” Mr North said.

Martin North is the CEO and founder of Digital Financa Analytics. Picture: Hollie Adams

Buyer’s agent and director of Hobart’s Timar Buyers Agency, David Zerna, was unsurprised to see some of the most expensive suburbs did not have the highest levels of cash flow.

Mr Zerna said, anecdotally, it was common for people in high income brackets to be challenged when it comes to purchasing an investment property.

“They have higher incomes, but also higher expenses,” he said.

“Often, people in the middle ring, on median incomes, can be frugal with their money.

“They want to set themselves up for the future.”

Mr Zerna said over the past two years, Tasmanian investor participation in the property market has decreased.

However, in terms of inquiries to his network, investor inquiries to July were up 300 per cent annually.

“This tells me two things, our house price point is sitting in a realm that’s attractive to investors and that our yields are becoming more attractive on the back of the rise in interest rates,” he said.

Director of Hobart’s Timar Buyers Agency, David Zerna. Picture: Supplied

Betashares chief executive Alex Vynokur said the Spare Cash Flow and Financial Opportunity Index gives an unexpected insight into how Aussies are managing their finances amid the rising cost of living.

The report, based on data from 52,000 Australian households in September 2024, highlights strong financial resilience among middle-income and rural areas and challenges the idea that traditionally affluent suburbs hold the majority of cash flow.

“The lifestyle of wealthy Aussies is not always the lifestyle that necessarily lends itself to a decent savings balance,” Mr Vynokur said.

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Betashares CEO Alex Vynokur.

Mr Vynokur said the amount of cash households had at their disposal was influenced not simply by how much they earned, but by how much they kept.

Mr North said the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening.

“There are people who are really doing it tough, but there are also a huge number of households who are doing extremely well, not just because of their incomes, but because they’re spending less on housing costs and are at a stage of life where they can save more,” he said.

HIGH AND LOW DISPOSABLE INCOME

Postcode, suburb, cash flow

7307 Sassafras $150,309

7325 Henrietta $117,978

7320 Acton $104,712

7330 Mengha $100,523

7300 Perth $90,311

7052 Blackmans Bay $86,504

7150 Gordon $82,888

7022 South Arm $82,252

7005 Dynnyrne $81,019

7301 Longford $69,787