Million buck benchmark loses sparkle in house value run
Million-dollar homes are becoming increasingly common in Australia, with new research showing roughly one in three suburbs has an average seven-figure price tag.
195 suburbs have joined the exclusive club following strong housing market gains over the last 12 months, according to a new report from Cotality.
In news that will make first-home buyers cry over cereal, 30 percent of all sales last year were $1 million or more.
The research examines thousands of suburbs across the country, divided into 4844 markets (3514 homes and 1330 units), revealing average values.
Sydney remains the most expensive capital city, with an average house price of $1.24 million; Only one in seven suburbs has a midpoint home price below $1 million.
“Home ownership is becoming increasingly unaffordable for a growing share of the population,” the report says.
Cotality economist Kaytlin Ezzy said national house prices rose 46.8 percent.
“A household with a median income of $106,000 and a 20 percent deposit would need to allocate more than 50 percent of its pre-tax earnings toward a loan on a million-dollar property,” he said.
Brisbane experienced the highest number of suburban declines exceeding the reference figure; 38 markets (including homes and units) join a club of 205 to carry a million-dollar price tag.
There are also 141 markets in the Queensland region with an average value of over one million.
The majority are on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, but now include four Toowomba suburbs, Castle Hill in Townsville and Cannon Valley inland Airlie Beach.
There is a $141 million market in Western Australia, including unit prices in three suburbs.
This is driven by house values rising by 83 per cent in Perth and 87 per cent in regional WA in the last five years.
In South Australia, 116 Adelaide housing markets hit the benchmark with no regional market or unit price in any suburb across the state.
Victoria had the smoothest growth last year, with just seven new entrants into the seven-figure club, for a total of 207.
There were no new entrants to the million-dollar club in Tasmania (which has four seven-figure suburbs) and the Northern Territory (none). This is despite Darwin leading national housing growth last year at 12.9 per cent, with the nearest seaside suburb, Nightcliff, having an average house value of $944,871.
And once again, the median house value in Canberra’s bush capital is over a million, reaching $1.02 million in September.
ACT housing is four per cent below the 2022 peak when house prices last reached the million average.
AUSTRALIA’S NEW SEVEN-FIGURE SUBSURBS:
NSW: Rooty Hill, Plumpton, Kingswood, Kembla Grange, Diamond Beach.
Victoria: Clayton South, Keilor Lodge, Taylors Lakes.
Queensland: Capalaba, Boondall, Keperra, Oxley, Springwood, Murrumba Downs, Nerang, Pelican Waters, East Toowoomba.
WA: Bouvard, Bayswater, Maylands, Jindalee, Margaret River, Chittering.
SA: Northgate, Morphettville, Plympton Park, Richmond, Warradale.
IMAGE: Fraser, Strathnairn, Kaleen, Casey, Monash.
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