The population of Australia is growing quickly, which in turn means that our suburbs are changing at an increasingly rapid pace.
As a result, it’s essential that agents who are looking to make the most of their opportunities understand the evolving demographics within their patches in order to maximise the returns they see from their marketing campaigns, both for their own sake and for their clients.
If you’ve been in your area for a significant amount of time, that puts you at a considerable advantage. If a client gets in touch for a market appraisal, there’s a good chance you’ll know the street, and maybe even know their property. This will make your client immediately confident in your abilities.
However, if you’ve had your finger on the pulse of your area for several years on a particular area, you’re likely going to notice the changes more than others. With property prices growing exponentially in inner-city locations, more and more young professionals are moving to the outer suburbs to commute and work from home, whilst taking advantage of the added affordability.
For this reason, you might have noticed that an area with a demographic typically around 35-44 now has individuals as young as 20 buying and renting property. If you want to make the most of your marketing campaigns, you’ll need to stay up-to-date with these changes.
Agents who work in areas that are increasingly welcoming younger families have changed their brand awareness strategies, too. For example, you could help to get your name out there by running community events focused around children, so people see you out and about, giving something back to the area. You could tailor these to a younger demographic by running more children’s events.
Agents who have worked in an area for a long time are more likely to notice demographic changes more quickly, giving them the change to optimise their campaigns to different age groups and personality types.
These demographics should also factor in investors, as you might be focusing your efforts on owner-occupiers, when there’s really a large market for investors looking to capitalise on growing property and rental prices. As an agent, if you’re not staying updated with changes in your area, you’re not going to be able to make the most of opportunities as they present themselves. You need to learn to look for subtle shifts and understand how they could have an impact on your suburb as a whole.