Australian house prices continue to record gains across the board despite disruption from the latest Covid-19 outbreak.
Property prices in Australia have yet again lifted in all States and Territories for the month of September with the average national dwelling price rising 1.5% month-on-month and a whopping 20.3% over the year, according to the latest Corelogic home value index.
The rate of growth in the average house price is slowing, having peaked in March, but is still tracking at the fastest pace since June 1989.
The median house price for Australia now sits at $719,209, driven by a perfect storm for rising property prices: low-interest rates, low housing supply versus strong demand, and government stimuli.
Breaking down breaking this figure down further, the median house price in Australia’s combined capital cities is $840,545; while the median value in Australia’s combined regional areas is $519,814.
The median unit price in Australia’s capital cities has risen to $625,485.
Of course, there isn’t one apartment market in Australia.
Family-friendly suburban apartments are in strong demand while CBD high-rise lookalike Legoland apartments are definitely out of favour by both owner-occupiers and tenants.
While our markets are still growing strongly the rate of growth in real estate prices in Australia is moderating after moving through a peak in March of this year, probably more due to worsening affordability constraints rather than our ongoing lockdowns.
There is little doubt that the recently introduced macro-prudential controls will have a negative impact on our property markets and slow the rate of growth of housing values even further.
After all, that’s what they’re intended to do.
Whether the markets will just experience slower growth or stop dead in their tracks will depend on what other measures are introduced.
However, the recently introduced measures are just going to slow the market down from sixth gear into third or fourth gear – our property markets are not going into reverse.
What you need to know about median house prices
I’ve written a detailed article explaining 4 things you need to know about median prices here.
Understanding median house prices can be useful because they give investors a rough guide about the locations they can afford.
However, they should never be considered to be the Holy Grail of property data, because of the tendency for median prices to jump around from quarter to quarter.
They are more a reflection of the properties recently sold in the area rather than what a particular property is worth.
In many locations understanding the median house price is almost worthless because of the variations of the great variation in sale prices for houses, which means the area does not have a homogeneous style of housing.
For example, you could get a significant variation in property value for similar properties when you compare the more desirable locations within a particular suburb, such as a property having water views with ones that are less desirable such as on a busy road or even on a secondary main road or too near the train or with views of the service station across the street.
As you can see, if a suburb has a housing of variable quality, the median house price is not very useful because some properties are simply more valuable than others.
However, if a suburb has very similar housing, such as renovated older homes on large blocks or a newer suburb where most of its housing stock was built over a few years, the median house price would be more relevant.
Having said that, here we have put together a list of Australian house prices, broken down into the median house prices in each major city and its regional markets.
Melbourne
Melbourne’s property market seems to have been relatively unphased by its multiple bouts of Covid-19 lockdowns since the global pandemic first surfaced.
Since the city emerged from lockdown late-2020, Melbourne house prices have risen rapidly, producing quarter after quarter of consecutive growth above 4%, which hasn’t been seen since the city’s post-GFC rebound.
This meant the median house price in Melbourne was able to join the $1 million club in mid-2021 when it recorded its strongest annual increase in 11 years.
This puts the real estate prices in Melbourne among some of the country’s highest, ranking second only behind Sydney.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on the average house price and average property price for Melbourne.
Median property prices for Melbourne
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$775,142
0.8%
3.3%
15%
Capital city houses
$962,250
1.1%
4.3%
18%
Capital city units
$619,443
0.2%
1.1%
8.3%
Regional dwellings
$509,451
1.3%
4.1%
22%
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021
Sydney
Australia’s most expensive capital city has also been the city that has seen property prices continue to rise strongly and steadily.
Sydney house prices continue to steam ahead, with median prices soaring to new highs amid a strengthening market.
Sydney real estate prices in larger regional locations, and in particular in lifestyle locations like Byron Bay, the Central Coast, the Hunter Valley, Wollongong, New South Wales south coast are expected to perform strongly this year with beachside suburbs likely to outperform the wider overall market as buyers re-evaluate the importance of the 20-minute neighbourhood.
The resurgence of the buyer and seller interest in the Sydney property market has meant that auction clearance rates have consistently been in the high 70% – 80% range suggesting there are more buyers than there are sellers and this always leads to higher Sydney home prices.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on the median property price for Sydney.
Median property prices for Sydney
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$1,056,093
1.9%
5.7%
23.6%
Capital city houses
$1,311,641
2.0%
6.2%
28.9%
Capital city units
$824,860
1.5%
4.6%
11.6%
Regional dwellings
$630,900
2.0%
6.1%
26.7%
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021
Brisbane
Brisbane’s house prices remained resilient over 2020 when other markets were impacted by the economic impact of Covid-19.
Brisbane’s house prices recorded a record 13% annual lift in mid-2021, in what was the strongest annual increase in 13 years.
And the perfect storm for rising house prices is only continuing to push the median house price in Brisbane higher and higher.
Now, moving forward, the Brisbane real estate price trends are expected to continue to attract strong demand for homes, particularly in lifestyle areas, with the average property price in Brisbane likely to deliver double-digit capital growth over the next 12 months.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on the average property price in Brisbane.
Median property prices for Brisbane
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$625,291
1.8%
5.9%
19.9%
Capital city houses
$709,136
2.0%
6.5%
22.2%
Capital city units
$430,000
0.6%
2.8%
8.8%
Regional dwellings
$468,287
1.7%
5.0%
22.2%
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021
Perth
For the first time in 28 years, Perth house prices are the most affordable among all of Australia’s major cities.
Perth’s regional dwellings and units have bucked the nationwide trend, being the only regional markets across the country which have seen some recent declines (although year-on-year numbers remain positive), mainly reflective of a slowdown in the pace of growth of Perth property prices and a downturn in the number of listings coming to market.
With the Perth median house price rising, strong rental conditions, and high rental yields along with improving demographic and economic conditions, it’s likely the Perth housing market will become increasingly more attractive to investors.
But the attractive property prices in Western Australia do not mean that investors should jump into the Perth property market – there are better opportunities in other parts of Australia.
The problem is the Western Australian economy is too dependent on one industry – the mining industry and much of this is dependent on China, and this has a direct knock-on effect on WA house prices.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on the Perth property prices.
Median property prices for Perth
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$524,589
0.3%
1.2%
18.1%
Capital city houses
$548,351
0.4%
1.3%
18.5%
Capital city units
$398,502
0.0%
0.7%
15.0%
Regional dwellings
$370,184
0.2%
1.8%
19.1%
Source: Corelogic, 1st October 2021
Adelaide
Adelaide house prices continue to consistently hit record highs – in mid-2021 a new benchmark was set, with the median house price surpassing $600,000 for the first time in what was an unusual acceleration for Adelaide home prices.
Housing demand has surged across Adelaide with the number of home sales over the past year reaching the highest level since 2002, putting further pressure on the average house price in Adelaide.
With demand at the highest level in almost two decades, advertised supply levels are around record lows.
And the trend isn’t just limited to the city dwellings, property prices across South Australia have been consistently strong, and are expected to continue in the near future.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on Adelaide property prices.
Median property prices for Adelaide
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$529,376
1.9%
5.5%
19.1%
Capital city houses
$575,949
2.1%
6.2%
21.4%
Capital city units
$367,079
0.4%
1.4%
5.7%
Regional dwellings
$277,914
0.4%
1.9%
13.1%
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021
Hobart
Hobart was the darling of speculative property investors and the best performing property market in 2017- 8, and while dwelling values reached a record high in February 2020, its boom was interrupted by Covid-19.
Hobart house prices still remain robust however with the median house prices for Hobart managing to reach record highs in mid-2021.
Hobart property prices have been supported by strong demand and weak market supply.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on Tasmania’s property prices.
Median property prices for Hobart
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$659,622
2.3%
6.4%
26.8%
Capital city houses
$704,321
2.1%
6.1%
25.8%
Capital city units
$542,464
2.9%
7.8%
31.1%
Regional dwellings
$443,058
1.7%
6.4%
27.2%
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021
Darwin
Darwin is no longer the most affordable city to purchase a house as Darwin’s house prices overtake those in Perth, a title it had held since the beginning of 2020.
The city’s famously relaxed and laid-back lifestyle and low-density population – a bonus amid the post-pandemic era – is driving interest in Darwin property.
And the positive data suggests this will continue in the near term.
Here we have pulled together the latest data on Darwin property prices.
Median property prices for Darwin
Median/average value/price
MoM change (%)
QoQ change (%)
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$481,767
0.1%
1.7%
20.2%
Capital city houses
$563,357
-0.3%
0.5%
18.5%
Capital city units
$353,158
0.8%
3.8%
23.3%
Regional dwellings
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021
Canberra
Canberra’s property market has been a “quiet achiever” with median house prices recording the biggest jump in prices across all of Australia’s capital cities, at a huge 29.2% in just one year or 10.4% over the June quarter, to a new median of $1.015 million according to Domain’s House Price Report.
That means that prices soared by almost $1,054 a day over the June quarter to give a total rise of $96,000.
This is the steepest price acceleration in almost three decades, the Domain report explained.
Median house prices in the inner north, inner south, and Woden Valley are now all above seven digits.
But unit price growth has been more restrained as the development boom of recent years contains prices, although they are edging closer to a record high, up a more modest $18,000 (or 3.6%) over the June quarter to $504,217.
Interestingly, since the pandemic, Canberra house prices have risen a huge 30.9% and unit prices 9.4%, which is the highest rate of growth across all of Australia’s cities.
Median property prices for Canberra
Median/average value/price
MoM change
QoQ change
Annual change
Capital city dwellings
$838,904
2.0%
6.9%
24.4%
Capital city houses
$956,119
2.0%
7.5%
28.0%
Capital city units
$538,071
1.8%
4.6%
11.6%
Regional dwellings
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
Source: Corelogic, 1 October 2021