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Australian house prices hit record highs along the east coast, marking the steepest increase in four years and rounding out a year of unprecedented events and price predictions.
The median house value now sits at $852,940, up 4.1 per cent over the quarter and 5.8 per cent in the year according to Domain’s house price report.
Sydney, Hobart and Melbourne led the charge in the quarterly results while Brisbane made a modest improvement but was up 5.6 per cent in the year.
Meanwhile unit prices rose marginally over the quarter—with only Melbourne and Canberra seeing significant growth—but could hit new highs in the coming months according to Domain analysts.
This is a far cry from early pandemic predictions including a 7 to 15 per cent fall predicted by the Reserve Bank in the first half of 2020.
Australian house prices hit new records
| City | Dec 20 | Sep 20 | Dec 19 | QoQ | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney | $1,211,488 | $1,156,090 | $1,135,482 | 4.8% | 6.7% |
| Melbourne | $936,073 | $888,985 | $900,940 | 5.3% | 3.9% |
| Brisbane | $616,387 | $611,606 | $583,477 | 0.8% | 5.6% |
| Adelaide | $574,264 | $562,656 | $541,022 | 2.1% | 6.1% |
| Canberra | $855,530 | $804,120 | $784,459 | 6.4% | 9.1% |
| Perth | $563,214 | $546,560 | $528,783 | 3.0% | 6.3% |
| Hobart | $564,091 | $531,594 | $501,699 | 6.1% | 12.4% |
| Darwin | $533,845 | $521,712 | $515,213 | 2.3% | 3.6% |
| National | $852,940 | $819,112 | $806,360 | 4.1% | 5.8% |
^Source: Domain House Price Report, December quarter 2020
House prices across all capital cities are now at new peaks, apart from Darwin and Perth.
Domain senior research analyst Nicola Powell said the pessimistic outlook for property prices failed to materialise.
“House prices [in Sydney] finished the year 6.7 per cent higher than the previous year, although the pace of annual growth is roughly half that of earlier in the year,” Powell said.
“The rebound highlights the resilience of Sydney’s house values following a short-lived 2.2 per cent dip mid-year.
Powell said record low interest rates, the containment of Covid and stimulus packages all played a role in supporting market activity and prices.
The report also shows outer-city regions across the country saw record price growth as demand rose throughout the pandemic.
The Blue Mountains and Central Coast in NSW, the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and Queensland’s Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast all recorded strong house price growth between December 2019 to December 2020.
