More than 200 housing markets hit $1m prices

The newly released Million Dollar Markets report from CoreLogic has estimated that there were 218 markets where the house or unit median surpassed $1 million, including 198 areas for houses, and 20 for units.

The report has also noted that the current market upswing has been a national phenomenon. Each capital city market and “rest of state” region has seen an increase in value of the year to May, ranging from 5 per cent across Melbourne dwellings to a 20.3 per cent rise in values across Darwin.

Eliza Owen, head of research Australia, commented that while home owners will see benefits from the property boom for their wealth accumulation, there are downsides.

“For first home buyers, who tend to be more price sensitive, higher house prices and the volume of suburbs becoming million-dollar markets are likely building on the challenges already faced by these prospective buyers around home ownership and affordability,” Ms Owen said.

“The latest ABS finance data reinforced this, showing April marked the third consecutive month of decline in finance secured for the purchase of property by first home buyers.”

Sydney clocked the highest frequency of suburbs moving over the million-dollar median, with 54 markets seeing their houses or units reach a median of $1 million or more. The total was 25.4 per cent greater than a year earlier.

Sydney had accounted for a quarter (24.8 per cent) of the markets analysed by CoreLogic.

Over the year to May, the NSW capital saw around 40 per cent of its sales transact for at least $1 million. The median house value across the city has been above the million-dollar price point since November.

However, the total in regional NSW, which now has 55 markets surpassing the $1-million median, surged by 267 per cent from a year prior.

Melbourne followed Sydney, with the second highest number of markets where the house or unit median rose above $1 million (35 new markets in the year to May), but regional NSW came third with 30 new markets, beating the other capital cities.

Regional Queensland came fourth (25 new markets), compared with 22 in Brisbane. Queensland was the only state where the combined regionals hold a similar number of million-dollar suburbs to its capital city, driven by the popularity of the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast.

Bellevue Hill houses in Sydney’s eastern suburbs were the most expensive market in Australia, with a median house value of $7.6 million.

Byron Bay was the most expensive regional market in NSW, with a median value of $2.3 million.

In Perth, there are now 42 house markets with a current median value of $1 million or higher as at May, 61.5 per cent more than one year earlier. But only one house market across regional WA joined the million-dollar club – Yallingup in the Bunbury region, with a median house value of $1.2 million.

Adelaide has 45 markets with a median house value over $1 million, more than double from a year ago, with Unley Park in the Central and Hills region coming in as the most expensive market for houses ($1.7 million median value as at May).

The ACT saw 27 markets join the million-dollar list, with Griffith holding the city’s highest house vale of $2.1 million.

Meanwhile, there are two markets across Hobart with a median house value of at least $1 million, but the city saw no newcomers in the past 12 months.

Battery Point is Hobart’s most expensive suburb, with a median value of $1.3 million.

[Related: New listings drop to 3-month lows in May: REA]

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