I like to research from:
http://www.reiv.com.au/Home.aspx and its also interesting to read some of these articles
http://www.propertyobserver.com.au/ keeping in mind why a person is saying certain things. ie. Real estate agents saying theirs never a better time to buy.
If you want something larger those inner city areas are going to be out of the 400k mark. It really is a question of what you want to do. Pay the same price in your ideal location for a small apartment or move out a bit further and get a bigger place for the same amount...capital growth is almost always better on larger land mass.