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Combined capital city house prices have broken the seven-figure barrier, a new report has shown.
Domain’s December 2021 Quarterly House Price report has now been released, revealing the breakthrough of the million-dollar barrier to $1.07 million – and follows 6.5 per cent growth over the most recent quarter.
According to Dr Nicola Powell, Domain’s chief of research and economics, the all-time highs come off the back of lockdown activity rebounds in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra, as well as “high household savings and the ongoing demand from Australians to buy a property”.
It’s led to six out of eight capital cities – barring Perth and Darwin – now hitting new record-high house prices.
Sydney has maintained its top spot, recording a stratified median house price of more than $1.6 million dollars at December’s end – with the city’s house prices having risen by roughly $1,100 per day over the course of 2021.
Canberra has come in second spot, reporting a median house price of $1.18 million in December.
According to Domain, it’s the steepest quarterly growth recorded on record, marking 12 months of “the strongest upswing in Canberra’s house price history”.
In Melbourne, the average house now costs $1.10 million. Domain has reported house prices rose $660 per day over the December quarter – and marks the steepest dollar increase on record for a single quarter.
Up in Brisbane, the median house now sets buyers back $792,000. This marks growth of 10.7 per cent over the quarter and pushes annual growth up a whopping 25.7 per cent – the steepest increase seen in nearly two decades.
Hobart finished the year with an average house price of $752,110. Marking a quarterly increase of 8.7 per cent, it’s also the first time ever the city has reported a median house price above $700,000.
According to Dr Powell, “with the lowest average wages of all the states we can expect that entry-level buyers who are on a local average wage will find it increasingly difficult to enter the housing market.”
Adelaide’s gains have also been sizeable – and it joins Hobart as a first-time entrant in the $700,000 club, posting a median house price of $731,547.
The 8.6 per cent quarterly growth pushes the city’s growth for the year up by 27.5 per cent, with Dr Powell commenting: “South Australia has been one of the states to benefit from the flow of Australians that have sought to either escape lockdown, embrace remote work culture, or return to their home state.”
Across in Western Australia, closed borders didn’t stop the state capital from reporting an average house price of $612,348 at the close of 2021 – a 1.8 per cent increase from September. With a slowing pace of growth, Domain said Perth “continues to hold the title of the most affordable city to buy a house as prices swiftly rise across the other cities”.
In Darwin, prices maintained their stability, posting an average house price of $645,487 – exactly the same as they had finished in September. It’s still the highest point property prices in the city have reached in a while – and pushes the city’s price growth above 30 per cent for the 2021 calendar year.
Dr Powell believes the stability shows prices on the Top End have peaked after producing “the strongest rate of annual growth in roughly 17 years and the highest median price in six years”.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Grace Ormsby
Grace is a journalist across Momentum property and investment brands. Grace joined Momentum Media in 2018, bringing with her a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Communication (Journalism) from the University of Newcastle. She’s passionate about delivering easy to digest information and content relevant to her key audiences and stakeholders.
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