Australia’s house prices are continuing to surge ahead of units, with $200,000 now separating the two property classes across all capital cities, according to real estate data released today.
In ongoing good news for house-owning ‘empty nesters’, CoreLogic figures show national house prices increased by 1.6 per cent in August, compared to 1.2 per cent for units.
Median capital city house prices are now sitting at $826,583 as against $625,160 for units - a $201,423 price gap. In August last year, this gap was $133,833.
Over the last year, across Australia, houses have increased by 20.8 per cent, compared to 10.5 per cent for units. House price growth has been slightly higher in regional areas, compared to capital cities.
During August, the capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide all saw house values increase at a greater rate than units, with only Hobart and Darwin bucking the trend. No figures were produced for Perth.
The strong growth of houses is helping put downsizers in a comparative marketplace advantage, as they are often moving from houses to apartments or to less expensive regional areas.
However, the rate of house growth acceleration is beginning to taper, CoreLogic warns.
“Capital city houses are continuing to record a stronger growth rate relative to units, however the performance gap does appear to be narrowing,” said CoreLogic’s research director Tim Lawless.
“Throughout the first quarter of the year, capital city house values were rising approximately 1.1 percentage points faster than units each month.
“By August the average performance gap reduced to 0.7 percentage points.”
Mr Lawless believes this situation could be as a result of buyers being forced out of the market as house prices are no longer in their reach.
Comment from industry expert
Downsizing.com.au spoke to industry expert Dr Andrew Wilson from MyHousingMarket about the current market.
He said that there was still around 5-10 per cent worth of growth in the Australian housing market, as lockdowns ease and vaccinations rise and the market recovers from previous poor years.
However, he said with interest rates unlikely to fall further and stagnant wages, Australia was fast reaching its housing affordability threshold.
See the interview below:
Find out more:
