Australian real estate has produced healthy returns in recent years, but the market has started to stall in line with the rest of the world, with the populous eastern seaboard hit hardest from higher interest rates and affordability issues that have taken the heat off the sector.

The slowdown in price rises does have an upside, however, helping younger Australians who have  found themselves priced out of the market in key urban areas acquire first homes.

In New Zealand, meanwhile, it is provincial rural areas that are undergoing a real estate renaissance, even as urban property prices show signs of having peaked.