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Where are the top 10 growth locations in 2026? Investing in a growth location can be the difference, making hundreds of thousands of capital growth, and sometimes making zero. Which is why InvestorKit pours over half a million dollars each year into detailed research to find the top performing locations. In this episode, I'm going to share with you 10 regions that are set for high growth in 2026. I'm Junge Ma, Senior Research Analyst at InvestorKit.
Let's get into it. Now in this episode, I will just introduce the 10 high growth locations in the order of states. First, let's look at Victoria. First location, Greater Melbourne. Melbourne now is not growing fast.
In fact, in the past year, the median house price growth was 0%. The median price of $850,000 has been sitting there for almost three years now. But we are seeing signs of recovery for 2026. First, a consistent decline in inventory. In early 2025, inventory in Greater Melbourne was above three months of stock, and now it has dropped to 2.
- In the past year, vacancy rate was increasing across many regions inside of Greater Melbourne, but now the trend is reversing. Vacancy rate has started to come down since early 2025, and rental yield has been increasing over the past few years as rental growth has exceeded price growth in almost all sub-regions. Another data point that makes us confident in Melbourne's recovery is its last 10-year growth. Over the past 10 years, house prices in Melbourne only increased by 52%, annualized to 4.
3% per year, and that is much lower than the national long-term average of 5% to 7%, making us believe that if market pressure keeps increasing, there's plenty of room ahead for Melbourne to grow. Second location, Geelong, just next to Melbourne. Geelong's market cycle is usually linked with Melbourne's. As Melbourne recovers, Geelong is doing it as well. Median house price here is $665,000, 2.
2% lower than the same time last year, but we are seeing signs of recovery. Inventory now has declined from 4. 4 in early 2025 to the current 3. 8. It's not extremely low, but the trend is consistent, and we expect more decline in late 2025 and into 2026.
And in the rental market, vacancy rate is also declining after last year's increase. Now it is sitting below 1%. That is a very tight condition. In the past 10 years, annualized growth was around 6% in Geelong, very well in line with the national average, meaning that once market pressure is there, Geelong can achieve a good amount of growth. Third location in Victoria is Ballarat.
Median house price now is $535,000, slightly lower than the same time last year, but the trend line has already tipping up. Other indicators of this recovery include a 49% year-on-year decline in inventory level from last year's above 6 to the current just above 3. That's huge improvement. In the rental market, vacancy rate has been declining, now well below 1%. Unfortunately, rental prices didn't grow in the past year, but if the rental supply continues to shrink, we are expecting more rental growth in the coming year.
The past 10-year annualized growth is just similar to Geelong's, around 6% per year, very much in line with long-term average, giving it good space for future growth. And our last pick in Victoria is Benegal. Benegal's median house price now is $575,000, 3. 3% higher than the same time last year, and it is speeding up. In the sales market, supply is tightening.
Inventory has dropped from last year's 5 months of stock to the current 3. 3 months of stock. And in the rental market, vacancy rate has been low, hovering around 1% for more than a year, leading to a 8. 1% year-on-year rental growth. Its last 10-year growth was very similar to Geelong and Ballarat, just 5.
9% per year, again indicating good space for future growth, given recovered market pressure. Bathurst. Median house price here is around $700,000, 6. 5% year-on-year growth. And in the coming year, we expect it to grow faster, because market pressure is actually increasing.
In the sales market, inventory dropped from around 4. 8 earlier this year to the current 3. 7 months of stock. Days on market dropped from 65 days to the current 55 days in less than a year. In the rental market, vacancy rate has been declining, now well below 1%.
And this shrinking rental supply has led to 6. 3% rental growth year-on-year. Over the years, yield has been increasing. Two years ago, it was around 4. 1%, and now it has increased to around 4.
4%, compared to Sydney, that is actually a much healthier rental yield. Now the second location in New South Wales is Maitland, not too far from Newcastle. Median house price now is $760,000, 5. 5% higher than the same time last year, and we are seeing the growth speeding up. Supporting that is the shrinking supply level in the sales market.
So first, we see inventory level declining from last year's close to 5 months of stock to the current just above 4 months of stock. Days on market has been declining over the past year, from around 42 days to the current 36. Vendor discount rates are also declining. In the rental market, vacancy rates have always been low. Even after a slight increase over the past year, it is still just sitting at 0.
7%, and that limited rental supply has led to close to 6% rental growth in the past year. Rental yield is relatively healthy, 4. 5%, much higher than Newcastle's rental yield level. And the third pick from New South Wales would be Double. Median house price in Double is now $550,000, 10% higher than the past year, and we are seeing this speeding up as the 3-month rolling median trend line is rising up faster than the 12-month rolling median trend line.
This speed up is supported by many indicators, including the declining inventory from last year's 3. 5, 3. 4 to the current 2. 3 months of stock. Days on market has also started to decline in recent months, especially if we check the 3-month rolling median trend line.
In the rental market, vacancy rate has always been low. Currently, it is around 0. 6%, and that has led to a 6. 3% year-on-year rental growth. Yield is really healthy, 5.
1%, quite attractive for a New South Wales market. Double's last 10-year annualized growth is around 6. 4%, well in line with the national average. So given the increasing market pressure, we can expect very healthy growth in the short to medium term. Now move to Queensland.
Our first pick is Townsville. Median house price now is around $600,000, surged a lot in the past year, 23. 3% year-on-year growth. But the market pressure is still high, and we still expect good growth in 2026. Inventory level is now around 1.
2 months of stock. Days on market is sitting at 13 days, that is much lower than the 26 days just two years ago. In the rental market, vacancy rate is around 0. 6%, really tight rental supply, and that tight supply has led to 8% year-on-year rental growth. Yield has been declining over the past two years because of the surge in sales price exceeding rental growth.
It is now still 5. 1%, a relatively healthy level. In the past 10 years, Townsville's annualized growth has been around 5. 1%, which is at the lower end of the national long-term average. So given the high pressure now, we still expect very healthy growth in the short to medium term.
Next city in Queensland would be Toowoomba. Median house price now is $720,000, 14. 2% higher than the same time last year. Market pressure remains high. That can be seen in the consistently low inventory level, now sitting at 1.
5 months of stock. Days on market is also staying low, now at 15 days, even lower than the same time last year. In the rental market, vacancy rate is close to Townsville's at around 0. 6%, leading to a 10% year-on-year rental growth. Rental yield is around 4.
4%, 4. 5%, not as impressive as Townsville's, but if we compare this to the nearby capital city of Brisbane, it is still relatively healthier. So Toowoomba, despite the fact that it has grown so well in the past three or five years, market pressure is still high, and it still has power to perform well in the coming year. And last but not least, we have Greater Darwin, the emerging hotspot. Median house price now is $600,000, 2.
6% year-on-year growth if we look at 12-month rolling median trend, but the three-month rolling median trend line is showing that it is actually speeding up. Inventory level has declined a lot over the past year, from almost five months of stock in mid-2024 to the current one month of stock. In the rental market, supply is shrinking as well. Vacancy rate has always been low, but in 2025, it's been declining again. At the beginning of 2025, it was around 1%, and now it has dropped to just 0.
35%. As a result of the shrinking rental supply, rental prices have grown by 6.
