What $1 million buys you across Australia's capital cities

Property prices are falling across the majority of Australian capital cities, with buyers now getting more bang for their buck.

Sydney has been hit hardest by price falls, and the city’s median is tipped to fall below $1 million in the coming months off the back of its steepest downturn in decades.

But just what a $1 million budget can buy in Sydney, even in the cooling market, still pales in comparison to what can be snapped up in other cities, where a seven-figure price tag generally gets you much closer to the city centre and into a better property with more space.

“The million-dollar market looks very different in each city,” said Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell. “In some cities, $1 million would be the prestige markets, that’s not the case in Sydney and Melbourne where the prestige point is much higher.”

Here’s how $1 million median suburbs compare, and what you can get for your money, across some of our major cities:

Sydney 

When it comes to million-dollar suburbs, buyers can look to harbourside Mosman on the lower north shore – for apartments, not houses.

Recording a median apartment price of $1 million over the 12 months to March, according to Domain data, it was one of about two dozen suburbs in the city with a seven-figure unit price median.

“Nowhere else comes close to having $1 million unit suburbs,” said Dr Powell of other cities. “Land is a premium in Sydney … and people pay a premium to live by the ocean, with many of these suburbs dotted along the waterfront.”

Those with their heart set on a house have to look much further afield, casting their gaze about 25 kilometres south of the city centre to Caringbah and Gymea and their respective medians of $1.005 million and $1,002,500.

Melbourne

While a purchaser with about $1 million to spend could buy a median price apartment in any suburb, median house prices in more than 70 suburbs are still out of reach.

Those that do come in around the $1 million mark are closer in than their Sydney counterparts but are still about 15 kilometres from the city centres.

Across the suburbs of Moorabbin, Burwood East and Blackburn South – which had respective medians of $1.01 million, $1 million and $997,500 – buyer could expect to find three to five-bedroom houses for $1 million.

Brisbane 

In Brisbane, buyers with a little extra to spend have their pick of top end suburbs like Paddington and St Lucia, which had medians of $1,062,500 and $1.055 million respectively.

Meanwhile, Bardon and Hendra, offer median-priced houses below the million dollar market – at $985,000 and $980,000.

“One million dollars gets you much closer to the city, or a bigger house, or both in some cities,” Dr Powell said.

All four Brisbane suburbs are about six kilometres or less from the CBD and houses recently sold in the area had up to six bedrooms.

Canberra 

Canberrans can look even closer to the city centre to O’Connor, just three kilometres from the city.

With a median house price of $1.04 million, it’s one of the four suburbs in the capital that have a seven-figure median house price.

However buying a few kilometres further out is also an appealing option, with the leafy suburb of Narrabundah recording a median of $940,000.

Perth

On the west coast, Perth buyers have been able to get increasingly more for $1 million in recent years.

Shenton Park and Ardross are the suburbs where buyers are most likely to find a home for that figure, with medians of $1.025 million and $988,000.

“In somewhere like Perth …. buyers get much more for a million dollars compared to other cities, but they’ve also been getting more bang for their buck in recent years,” Dr Powell said.