Australian Property

Australia’s housing bubble is really a land bubble

Leith van Onselen
Wednesday 5 November 2025
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Last week, I reported on the latest annual national accounts from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), which showed that the total value of residential land in Australia increased by 7.0% during the 2024-25 financial year to a record $8.3 trillion.

Australian land values

The next chart shows that total residential land values in Australia have skyrocketed from 1.1 times GDP in 1989 to 3.0 times GDP in 2024–25.

Autralian land values index
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The land share of Australia’s housing stock has also increased from 54% in 1990-91 to 75% as of 2024-25.

Residential land share

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About the author
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.