Data from PropTrack shows that the median house price in an additional 95 suburbs across Australia rose above $1 million in 2023.
Brisbane led the way, with 39 of its suburbs joining the million-dollar club.
The Brisbane suburbs of Sunnybank Hills and Sunnybank recorded the strongest growth, with the median price rising by $208,799 (up 23%) and $204,253 (up 21%) respectively.
Meanwhile, the median house price in 33 suburbs rose above $2 million in 2023, and an additional 13 suburbs now boast a median price of more than $3 million.
“Prices have increased so strongly that people are looking further and further afield at these seemingly peripheral suburbs and pulling them into the million-dollar club”, PropTrack senior economist Paul Ryan said.
“The big thing that has drawn people to Brisbane is relative affordability (to southern states), lifestyle and being able to get big homes and big blocks”.
“As prices have risen, people trying to keep that criteria are moving their search around”, he said.
The next chart shows that Brisbane has recorded the strongest dwelling value growth on the east coast since the pandemic began in March 2020:
Brisbane dwelling values have risen 58% since March 2020, versus 31% growth in Sydney and only 15% growth in Melbourne.
The following chart, which demonstrates that Queensland has added nearly 130,000 residents from other states since the pandemic started, specifically NSW and Victoria, explains some of the reasons for Brisbane’s stronger growth:
The more affordable housing in Queensland is a significant contributing factor to this migration.
Brisbane’s median house price was 74% of the national average in December 2023, which is heavily weighted towards Sydney and Melbourne:
That said, as shown above, Brisbane’s affordability advantage is shrinking fast, especially against Melbourne:
This should eventually see Brisbane’s house price growth slow as it hits an affordability ceiling.
That said, there is still room to move, and the infrastructure investment relating to the 2032 Olympics should see Brisbane housing outperform its larger southern counterparts this decade.
