How many suburbs have seen median prices double over the past decade?
The popular myth in Australian real estate is that property prices double every seven to ten years.
A decade ago, the national median house price was recorded at $330,000 and the median unit price was $310,000. Ten years later, the median selling prices were recorded at $499,000 and $445,000 respectively. Based on these figures, selling prices nationally have increased by 51% for houses over the decade and by 44% for units. Clearly, based on broad averages, in most areas of the country median prices have not doubled over the past decade.
Across the individual capital cities the results diverge significantly, however none of the capital cities have seen the city-wide median house or unit prices double over the past decade. Prices have gone closest to doubling over the decade in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin while in Perth and Hobart the total change for houses and units has been well below 50%.
The table attached shows the split of suburbs that have and haven’t seen median selling prices double over the past decade across each state and territory. For houses; NSW, Vic and NT are the only states and territories in which more than 10% of suburbs have seen prices double over the past 10 years. Looking at the unit markets, again only NSW, Vic and NT saw more than 10% of suburbs recording prices as doubling. Not one suburb in Tas has seen the median prices double over the past decade.
Remember that the next time you hear someone say that property prices double every seven to ten years that although it can happen in certain areas there are no guarantees. The analysis highlights the importance of buying strategically; on average most properties have fallen well short of doubling their value over a decade. This is highlighted by this data which shows far fewer owners have seen their real estate asset double in price over the past decade than those who have. Those which have seen their property price double over the decade are most likely to be situated in Sydney, Melbourne or Darwin while in other capital cities and regional areas of the country the prospects of prices having doubled over this period are much lower.
Source: CoreLogic