What Sydney's median unit price of more than $800,000 can buy you in other cities
Sydney apartment prices have reached a record high, climbing past the $800,000 mark and outstripping house prices across most of the nation’s big cities.
The city’s median unit price of about $802,500 is now higher than your typical house price in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Darwin, the latest Domain House Price Report shows.
Houses in pockets of Canberra and Melbourne – the nation’s second and third most expensive cities – also now cost less than your typical Sydney apartment.
Here’s what you can expect to buy for Sydney’s median unit price in other cities.
Melbourne
Property prices in Melbourne have also reached record highs, hitting a median house price of almost $1.04 million in the past quarter, and a unit median of almost $577,000.
Still, the typical house in more than 100 suburbs would cost you less than Sydney’s median unit price, with Bundoora – about 16 kilometres north-east of the CBD – coming closest with a median of $802,000. At that price point, buyers have been picking up three or four-bedroom houses on more than 500 square metres.
Ferntree Gully ($801,250 median), Cairnlea ($799,000) and The Basin ($797,500) also come close.
Buyer’s advocate Cate Bakos, of Cate Bakos Property, said the $800,000 mark was a competitive price point, with interest from local first-home buyers, upsizers and investors, but also a number of priced-out Sydneysiders.
“It would get you into a gentrified, established market in Melbourne. You could buy within 20 kilometres of the CBD if you’re willing to look north and west, which I often do, to areas like Sunshine West ($675,000), St Albans ($641,000) and Thomastown ($695,000). If you’re going south or east you’ll need to double your distance to 40 kilometres from the CBD at that price point.”
A three-bedroom house on a 308-square-metre block in Forest Hill, 18 kilometres east of the city centre, recently sold for $800,000, as did a three-bedroom townhouse on a 170-square-metre block in Mulgrave – about 21 kilometres south-east of the CBD.
Brisbane
With the city’s median house price sitting at a record high of almost $702,500, a budget of about $802,500 could secure a buyer a typical house in more than two-thirds of Brisbane suburbs.
House hunters could look to homes in Mansfield ($803,000), Stafford ($800,000) and neighbouring Stafford Heights ($800,000) – all within a 13-kilometre drive of the city centre – where three-bedroom homes on blocks ranging up to about 700 square meters have sold for about their respective suburb medians.
A little closer to the city in Murarrie, about a 10-kilometres drive east of the CBD, an updated three-bedroom home on a 405-square-metre block recently sold for $785,000. A three-bedroom circa-1949 cottage on a same-size block in Morningside sold for $800,000 last quarter, while in Camp Hill – where the median sits at $1.2 million – a two-bedroom pre-war home, again on a block of the same size, sold for $760,000.
Selling agent Deanne Hansom, of LJ Hooker Cannon Hill, said houses within 10 kilometres of the city centre were in strong demand, with more people looking to upsize from inner-city apartments during the pandemic, but still wanting to be within close proximity of the CBD.
Though Murarrie recorded a median house price of $750,000 over the year to September, it was becoming increasingly difficult to buy a house at that level, she said, with the price of three-bedroom homes increasingly pushing closer to the $900,000 price tag.
Perth
On the west coast, house prices in Perth have climbed almost 10 per cent over the year to a median of $598,601.
House prices across 80 per cent of suburbs still sit at or below the $800,000 mark, with the city’s northern coastal suburbs of Mullaloo ($800,000) and neighbouring Ocean Reef ($796,000), and Willeton ($800,000) in the south-east just scrapping in under budget.
In the beach suburb of Mullaloo, about a half-hour drive north of the city centre, four-bedroom, two-bathroom homes on about 700 square meters had been selling for around that price point, said Matt Brace of The Agency.
The market had been strong, with properties typically selling within a week or two of hitting the market, Mr Brace said, though the pace of price rises appeared to be slowing.
Though most of the buyer demand was local, interest from east-coast investors, particularly Sydneysiders, had picked up in recent weeks, particularly further north in more affordable suburbs offering strong rental returns, he noted.
Closer to the CBD, a three-bedroom Mosman Park home on less than 250 square metres sold for $775,000, while a three-bedroom home without parking on about 350 square metres of land in the inner centre sold for $790,000.
Hobart
While Australia’s southernmost capital city is much more affordable than Sydney, an $800,000 budget may not stretch as far as you think, with Greater Hobart’s median house price jumping 31.9 per cent over the past year to a record high of $698,212.
A typical house in South Hobart would now set buyers back $790,500, with a three-bedroom cottage on 284 square meters in the suburb selling for just under the median last quarter.
Meanwhile, in Bellerive, a 10-minute drive from the city centre, the median house price sits at $750,000, and in Blackmans Bay, about a 20-minute drive south, it has reached $710,000.
A 1970s five-bedroom brick home with views of the Derwent River recently sold in Bellerive for $780,000, while a three-bedroom house with water views in Blackmans Bay sold for $750,500 in September.
Canberra
With the median house price in the nation’s capital now at a record of about $1,074,000, many suburb medians in the city have slipped out of reach for someone looking to spend around $800,000.
In the rapidly developing suburb of Gungahlin, about a 15-kilometre drive from the CBD, a three-bedroom townhouse on a 232-square-metre block recently sold prior to auction for $811,000, above the suburb’s median of $800,000.
In nearby Bonner, where the median sits at $757,500, a three-bedroom home sold for $800,000 last month, while a little closer to the city in Aranda, a dated three-bedroom duplex sold for $798,000.
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