RP Data’s Cameron Kusher has released a new report (below) examining whether buyers may soon turn their attention to more affordable housing markets, like Brisbane and Adelaide:
Today’s Property Pulse looks at median house prices across Australia’s capital cities and uses the differences as a measure of affordability. Mr Kusher said that while median prices are not a preferred measure for capital growth or losses, the method is a good way to assess other aspects of the housing market such as affordability and what price points homes are currently selling for.
Around the cities, Sydney is currently, and has maintained its position as the city to hold the highest median selling prices for homes. Based on July 2013 data, in Sydney the combined house and unit median price was $570,000 which is 16 per cent higher than the median selling price in Melbourne ($492,000), 33 per cent higher than Brisbane ($429,000), 49 per cent higher than Adelaide ($382,000), 15 per cent higher than Perth ($494,600), 87 per cent higher than Hobart ($305,000), 16 per cent higherthan Darwin ($490,000) and 14 per cent higher than Canberra ($500,000).
…there is a significant gap in pricing between Sydney and other capital cities. Melbourne and Perth prices are relatively similar with a large step down in median price to Brisbane and then a further large gap to Adelaide prices.
“With home values rising at a faster pace in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth than in Brisbane and Adelaide, we expect that gaps in selling prices will increase over the coming months which may then see a shift in focus to the more affordable markets of Brisbane and Adelaide,” Mr Kusher said.
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
