Australia’s median house price is above $1 million. Here’s what that buys in different cities
Home hunters are forking out more than $1 million for the median Australian house, hundreds of thousands of dollars more than a year ago, but what they can buy varies widely.
The national median house price, for the capital cities combined, hit a record high of $1,066,133 last quarter, Domain figures show, after lifting almost $215,000 over the year.
Depending on location, everything from a 32-square-metre inner-city property to a four-bedroom home with a pool can sell for close to the median price tag.
Here’s what such a budget can get you across different capital cities.
Sydney
The most expensive capital city – with houses selling for a median of about $1.6 million last year – sends buyers to the outer suburbs to find house prices typically in reach.
Median house prices in Edensor Park ($1,053,000) and Moorebank ($1.07 million) in the city’s south-west, Sefton ($1,050,000) in the west, and Tallawong ($1,050,000) in the north-west come close to the national median.
In Edensor Park, buyers were likely to pick up a single storey three-bedroom house that was about 40 years old but potentially had some updates, said Blaz Dejanovic, director of Blaze Real Estate. However, prices went up to $1.1 million if the block size was large enough for buyers to look at building a granny flat.
“There has been a lot of growth [in the market] – that same house was selling not long ago for in the $900,000 range or the high $800,000 mark,” Mr Dejanovic said.
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Of course houses can still be found closer to the CBD, though buyers will have to compromise on size and often location.
A one-bedroom terrace in Darlinghurst on just 32 square metres of land sold for $1.05 million in December, while a two-bedroom original condition home on a main road in St Peters sold for $1 million.
Melbourne
The median house price has climbed to more than $1.1 million in Melbourne. Buyers need to look to the city’s middle and outer ring – to the likes of Wantirna ($1,050,000) and Heathmont ($1,063,500) in the outer-east and Keilor ($1.07 million) in the west – to find typical house prices close to the national median.
Buyers in Keilor, 26 kilometres west of the city, were picking up established three- to four-bedroom homes for that price, said Michael McCoy of Nelson Alexander Keilor East. In some pockets, these homes would be renovated and on 500 to 600 square metres of land.
These were popular with young families upgrading from units and smaller properties in surrounding suburbs, he added.
Closer to the city centre, two-bedroom houses without parking have recently sold in Fitzroy North, Thornbury and Footscray for between $1,032,000 and $1,071,000. The largest of the three blocks was 210 square metres.
Brisbane
Buyers can get closer to the city centre up north, with houses in greater Brisbane trading for a median sale price of $792,000 last year – up almost 26 per cent annually.
Suburbs such as Windsor ($1,055,000), Alderley ($1,068,000) and Wooloowin ($1,071,500) in the city’s north, and Tarragindi ($1,058,125) to the south, have median house prices close to the national median. Two- and three-bedroom houses, often in need of a renovation, were selling for similar prices across the suburbs late last year – all within a 10-kilometre drive of the CBD.
Elsewhere a “renovator’s dream” on a 405-square-metre block in Paddington sold for $1,065,000 back in October.
A four-bedroom house with a pool sold for $1.04 million in the northern coastal suburb of Brighton last month.
Hobart
A budget of more than $1 million will stretch far in Hobart, but far less than it did just a year ago, with the city’s median house price jumping almost 35 per cent last year to about $752,000 – making it more expensive than Perth, Adelaide and Darwin.
While a median priced house in Sandy Bay ($1.33 million) would be out of reach, houses in West Hobart ($946,000), New Town ($915,000) and Bellerive ($850,000) were still below the national median.
Petrusma Property Sandy Bay director Sam Towns said families looking for a decent home in Sandy Bay or West Hobart needed to go into seven figures. They may be able to get away with a budget of $800,000 to $900,000 for a small property, but even a two-bedroom West Hobart home without parking sold for $926,000 late last year.
Mr Towns noted it was no longer just inner-city homes commanding seven-figures sales, with suburbs across the River Derwent recording some big results.
Perth
House prices in the west coast capital sold for a median of about $612,000 last year, well below the median for the combined capital cities but still up 7.5 per cent over the year.
A budget of almost $1.07 million would pick up a typical house in North Beach ($1,050,000), a coastal suburb about an 18-kilometre drive north-west of the CBD. Those who could stretch a little further could look to the waterfront suburb of Mount Pleasant ($1,075,000) in the city’s south-west. Three- and four-bedroom homes in both suburbs sold for less than the national median last year.
Elsewhere, a two-bedroom cottage in North Fremantle ($1,095,000) that was ready for a renovation sold for $1.05 million last month, while an entry-level three-bedroom house in Mosman Park (median $1,447,500) sold for $1.06 million in December.
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