The old saying that property prices double every seven to 10 years, might need to be updated, with new data showing it now takes 15 years for properties in Australia to double in value.
According to PropTrack, at the end of May 2023, the national median house price took 15.4 years to double, while the median unit price took even longer, at 17.8 years.
Houses (14.3 years) in capital cities had doubled quicker than those in regional areas (16 years), while regional units (17.5 years) doubled in price faster than those in capital cities (18.1 years).
The only locations where house prices did manage to double in under 10 years were Hobart and Sydney.
Hobart houses doubled in price quicker than any other region (6.8 years), while Sydney houses took 9.6 years.
Houses in Perth and regional Queensland (both 17.8 years) took the longest to double in price.
Hobart units have also doubled in price quickest at just 7.8 years, while units in Perth have taken the longest at 19.2 years.
PropTrack Director Economic Research, Cameron Kusher said although it was commonly stated that property prices double every seven to 10 years, this hasn’t been the case of late, with very few markets achieving this growth in under a decade, despite strong price gains nationally throughout the pandemic.
“While property prices have risen significantly since the beginning of the pandemic, it has taken many years for median prices to double to their current values across most parts of the country,” Mr Kusher said.
“This highlights that as the cost of housing has increased, the percentage gains in prices have reduced.”
Mr Kusher said houses have outpaced units across the country.
“Median price increases for houses are typically stronger than units, particularly in capital cities,” he said.
“In fact, house prices have doubled sooner than unit prices across all capital cities and regional markets.”
Mr Kusher said while housing is most expensive in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, prices had doubled faster in these cities than in many other cities and regional areas.
“Prices in Tasmania have previously been the cheapest in the country,” he said.
“With the rapid increases in prices over recent years, Hobart is now the fifth most expensive capital city for houses and the fourth most expensive for units.
“Tasmania is also the fastest state to see prices double.”
Mr Kusher said despite some areas seeing strong growth in the past decade, there will likely be headwinds in the future as we return to a more normal interest rate environment.
“Rising interest rates and much higher prices, along with other economic and demographic factors, will weigh on the prospects of prices doubling in the future,” he said.
