32 more suburbs hit a $1 million median in the past 3 months
Thirty-two capital city suburbs nationwide have recorded $1 million median house prices in the past three months, new data has revealed.
Sydney suburbs dominate the list, but Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, and Melbourne suburbs are also on the list, according to the latest Domain House Price Report.
Magill was the only South Australian suburb to join the list this quarter, now expanding the Adelaide million-dollar club to 27 suburbs.
In recent years, the popularity of the schools in and around Magill has pushed up demand to live in the suburb, says local agent Toby Shipway of Ray White Adelaide City.
Passing the $1 million median was only a matter of time, he says.
“[Property prices are going up] due to a lack of supply. But it’s also 10 to 15 minutes from the city, which is probably unheard of in Sydney for this sort of money.
“There are a lot of old ’50s homes … on really big blocks [of land]. Basically, a lot of people – if you can subdivide – are chopping them up and putting community titles or townhouses.”
At inspections, around 10 to 20 groups of people come through to view the property because everyone wants to register their kids in the nearby schools, says Shipway.
Despite Melbourne’s median house price dipping in the past quarter, prices for Maribyrnong houses and Ivanhoe East units grew by 7.2 per cent and 7.5 per cent, respectively, pushing their median prices to just over $1 million.
“[Maribyrnong] has finally been acknowledged and recognised as an inner-city suburb,” says real estate agent Milo Rasinac of McDonald Upton.
Rasinac believes the suburb should have hit $1 million a few years ago because of its prime location and high demand.
“[Maribyrnong] borders Ascot Vale, Kensington, Flemington. It is only a few kilometres away from Melbourne and the CBD, and buyers who can’t afford those more prestigious suburbs are just crossing the river. It has parklands and the river. It has Highpoint shopping centre and lots of recreational facilities, and it’s still very, very close to Melbourne airport, and there’s a tram that takes you straight into the city.”
The majority of the properties in Maribyrnong are residential, with several houses, townhouses and units available.
“[With a $1 million budget], you’ll find a modest unrenovated property with loads of potential that’s on 600 to 620 square metres,” says Rasinac.
“It has large blocks of land, so builders, developers, and investors are keen on the region too.”
In NSW, 14 new suburbs joined the million-dollar club across houses and units. For example, house prices in South Wentworthville jumped by 14.4 per cent in the past quarter alone.
“With the amount of infrastructure and development that’s been occurring in Parramatta, a lot of the surrounding suburbs have grown exponentially when it comes to value, and obviously, that’s played a vital role in the growth of South Wentworthville,” says local agent Stephen Mina of McGrath Parramatta.
“It’s just a nice sort of family-orientated suburb that is still surprisingly quite affordable when you’re comparing the rest of Sydney and being so close to a CBD.”
It seems like most houses sold are around the $1.2 million mark, so it’s a bit surprising that the median just hit the $1 million milestone, says Mina.
A typical house in South Wentworthville sits on about 550 square metres of land and is usually a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home initially built in the 50s and 60s, says Mina.
“You’re now getting a lot of people that are buying into the area and starting to renovate more. So this is where you’re starting to see that [price] growth coming through. Because a lot more homes are now being better presented and better looked after.”
In Queensland, nine new suburbs passed the $1 million median, including Aspley, Bellbowrie, Carina, and Chermside West.
Greater Brisbane is just $5000 short of a $1 million median house price.
In the tightly held suburb of Chermside West, houses are finally entering the market, and young families are jumping at the opportunity to purchase, says local agent Nick Thornton of Ray White Wilston.
“My last few sales in the area where people have been in the house since 1968 or ’74 or ’88 and now moving to nursing homes or passed away,” he says.
“Younger families are coming back into the area and rejuvenating the family lifestyle.”
As the age demographic of the suburb dramatically changes from Boomers to Gen X and Millennials, Chermside West property prices have boomed, catching up to other $1 million suburbs in its vicinity, like Stafford Heights.
Only four suburbs nationwide joined the $2 million club this quarter, with three in Sydney and one in Brisbane.
St Lucia in Brisbane is now one of nine suburbs in Queensland with a median house price of $2 million.
“It was bound to [hit the $2 million median],” says real estate agent Ann-Karyn Fraser of Place Estate Agents New Farm.
“[St Lucia] has been such a highly sought after suburb. $2 million is a great price range given everything it offers, but you now need $2 million plus to get into the market there,” she says.
“It’s circled by the river, so you’ve got beautiful riverfront properties. It also has a lovely community and a really broad range of homes in the area. A good primary school and the proximity to the CBD, which is within five or six kilometres of Brisbane city.
“It’s a really pretty, very leafy suburb. It’s a very blue chip suburb, so there are very big stately homes, but there’s also family homes,”
With a $2 million budget, a buyer can find a 400 to 450-square-metre block of land with an unrenovated home without a pool, says Fraser.
She suggests a $2.5 million to a $3.5 million budget for a lovely family home that needs very little to no renovations.
St Lucia house prices might be high now, but the bulk of its price growth happened during COVID-19 when more people began working from home and decided they wanted more space, says Fraser.
“We also had a lot of shifting within the suburbs,” she says. “It was like a bit of a tree change within the suburbs.”
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