The median house value has hit $1 million or more in 1120 Australian suburbs, new analysis from CoreLogic shows.
The data released today shows that more than 400 suburbs in Sydney have a median house value equal to or greater than $1 million, while there are 221 suburbs in Melbourne.
CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless said a $1 million price tag was becoming “more normal”.
“It’s logical that when you have housing values rise as much as what they have over the past 12 months, 22.1 per cent nationally, that there are going to be more suburbs that break particular boundaries,” he said.
“In terms of dollar values, that’s an annual increase of about $129,000 on a typical value of a property nationally.”
In Sydney, the proportion of suburbs where the median house value hit $1 million rose from 49.6 per cent in March 2020 to 70.6 per cent in December 2021.
Mr Lawless said 417 Sydney suburbs had reached the magic million-dollar milestone.
“In areas like Sydney, a million-dollar house is well and truly the norm,” he said.
“The middle value of a house is now nearly $1.4 million in Sydney. There are more houses that are worth $1 million than those that are worth less than $1 million.”
The proportion of Sydney suburbs that recorded a median house value of at least $3 million also climbed from 3.1 per cent to 13.5 per cent, to total 80 suburbs.
There are also eight Sydney suburbs with a median house value greater than or equal to $5 million.
“Looking forward, the $2 million and $3 million mark is going to be a lot more interesting (than the $1 million mark),” Mr Lawless said.
In Melbourne, the data shows the proportion of suburbs with a median house value of $1 million jumped from 38 per cent to 55.5 per cent to equal 221 suburbs.
Canberra also recorded a big jump since March 2020, with the proportion of suburbs rising from 4.9 per cent to 53.6 per cent.
There are now 45 suburbs in Canberra with a median house value of at least $1 million.
In Brisbane, there are 91 suburbs with a median house value of at least $1 million, followed by Adelaide (70), Perth (52) and Hobart (7).
Darwin has no suburbs with a median house value of $1 million.
Regional areas
Another interesting trend the data reveals is the increasing number of regional suburbs hitting the $1 million mark.
In regional NSW, the proportion of suburbs to hit that figure increased from 2.9 per cent in March 2020 to 20.4 per cent in December 2021, to total 116 suburbs.
“If we look at the strongest sub-regions over the past year for capital gains, it’s actually the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven in NSW that has seen housing values rise the most,” Mr Lawless said.
“They are up nearly 40 per cent over the past calendar year. And in that particular region, we’ve seen the number of $1 million suburbs move from only two, back in pre-Covid times, up to 24.
“And you can see that in the Illawarra, you can see it in markets like Geelong and Coffs Harbour, so areas that aren’t necessarily commutable are definitely seeing a big surge and are much more expensive now.”
It’s a similar tale in regional Queensland, where the proportion of $1 million suburbs rose from 3 per cent to 15.7 per cent.
There are now 82 suburbs in regional Queensland with a housing value median of at least $1 million.
Mr Lawless said Queensland had seen a surge in interstate migration fuelling the rising property prices.
“We’re seeing interstate migration into Queensland at the highest level since 2003,” he said.
“Most of that is coming to South East Queensland, so the regions that are supporting that surge in million-dollar suburbs are the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast.
“Compared to pre-Covid times, so March 2020, the Sunshine Coast only had five suburbs where the median house value was more than a million dollars, and at the end of 2021, it had increased to 48 suburbs.
“The Gold Coast has increased from only six suburbs up to 34.
“This regional trend towards more coastal, or more broadly lifestyle markets, has really seen a lot of these areas that are commutable, liveable and sometimes affordable, really hit their stride.”
In regional Victoria, there are now 18 suburbs with a median house value of at least $1 million, while in regional Western Australia, there is one suburb.
There are no suburbs in regional Tasmania, South Australia or the Northern Territory with a median house value of at least $1 million.
