Sydney had the highest median house value compared to other capital cities in Australia as of April 2025, with a value of over **** million Australian dollars. Brisbane similarly had relatively high average residential housing values, passing Canberra and Melbourne to top the pricing markets for real estate across the country alongside Sydney. Housing affordability in Australia Throughout 2024, the average price of residential dwellings remained high across Australia, with several capital cities breaking price records. Rising house prices continue to be an issue for potential homeowners, with many low- and middle-income earners priced out of the market. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Australia’s house price-to-income ratio declined slightly to ***** index points. With the share of household income spent on mortgage repayments increasing alongside the disparity in supply and demand, inflating construction costs, and low borrowing capacity, the homeownership dream has become an unattainable prospect for the average person in Australia. Does the rental market offer better prospects? Renting for prolonged periods has become inevitable for many Australians due to the country’s largely inaccessible property ladder. However, record low vacancy rates and elevated median weekly house and unit rent prices within Australia’s rental market are making renting a less appealing prospect. In financial year 2024, households in the Greater Sydney metropolitan area reported spending around ** percent of their household income on rent.

Median prices for dwellings/townhouses, and apartments by their year of settlement for the City of Melbourne.

The average price of Australian residential property has risen over the past ten years, and in June 2025, it reached over one million Australian dollars. Nonetheless, property experts in Australia have indicated that the country has been in a property bubble over the past decade, with some believing the market will collapse sometime in the near future. Property prices started declining in 2022; however, a gradual upward trend was witnessed throughout 2023, with minor fluctuations in 2024. Australian capital city price differences While the national average residential property price has exhibited growth, individual capital cities display diverse trends, highlighting the complexity of Australia’s property market. Sydney maintains its position as the most expensive residential property market across Australia's capital cities, with a median property value of approximately 1.19 million Australian dollars as of April 2025. Brisbane has emerged as an increasingly pricey capital city for residential property, surpassing both Canberra and Melbourne in median housing values. Notably, Perth experienced the most significant annual increase in its average residential property value, with a 10 percent increase from April 2024, despite being a comparably more affordable market. Hobart and Darwin remain the most affordable capital cities for residential properties in the country. Is the homeownership dream out of reach? The rise in property values coincides with the expansion of Australia's housing stock. In the June quarter of 2025, the number of residential dwellings reached around 11.37 million, representing an increase of about 53,600 dwellings from the previous quarter. However, this growth in housing supply does not necessarily translate to increased affordability or accessibility for many Australians. The country’s house prices remain largely disproportional to income, leaving the majority of low- and middle-income earners priced out of the market. Alongside this, elevated mortgage interest rates in recent years have made taking out a loan increasingly unappealing for many potential property owners, and the share of mortgage holders at risk of mortgage repayment stress has continued to climb.

Graph and download economic data for Real Residential Property Prices for Australia (QAUR628BIS) from Q1 1970 to Q2 2025 about Australia, residential, HPI, housing, real, price index, indexes, and price.

Median prices for dwellings/townhouses, and apartments by their year of sale for the City of Melbourne.

The average price of Australian residential property has risen over the past ten years, and in December 2024, it reached 976,800 Australian dollars. Nonetheless, property experts in Australia have indicated that the country has been in a property bubble over the past decade, with some believing the market will collapse sometime in the near future. Property prices started declining in 2022; however, a gradual upward trend was witnessed throughout 2023, with minor fluctuations in 2024. Australian capital city price differences While the national average residential property price has exhibited growth, individual capital cities display diverse trends, highlighting the complexity of Australia’s property market. Sydney maintains its position as the most expensive residential property market across Australia's capital cities, with a median property value of approximately 1.19 million Australian dollars as of April 2025. Brisbane has emerged as an increasingly pricey capital city for residential property, surpassing both Canberra and Melbourne in median housing values. Notably, Perth experienced the most significant annual increase in its average residential property value, with a 10 percent increase from April 2024, despite being a comparably more affordable market. Hobart and Darwin remain the most affordable capital cities for residential properties in the country. Is the homeownership dream out of reach? The rise in property values coincides with the expansion of Australia's housing stock. In the December quarter of 2024, the number of residential dwellings reached around 11.29 million, representing an increase of about 53,200 dwellings from the previous quarter. However, this growth in housing supply does not necessarily translate to increased affordability or accessibility for many Australians. The country’s house prices remain largely disproportional to income, leaving the majority of low- and middle-income earners priced out of the market. Alongside this, elevated mortgage interest rates in recent years have made taking out a loan increasingly unappealing for many potential property owners, and the share of mortgage holders at risk of mortgage repayment stress has continued to climb.

Housing Index in Australia increased to 183.90 points in the fourth quarter of 2021 from 175.60 points in the third quarter of 2021. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Australia House Price Index - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Urban housing location and locational amenities play an important role in median house price distribution and growth among the suburbs of many metropolitan cities in developed countries, such as Australia. In particular, distance from the central business district (CBD) and access to the transport network plays a vital role in house price distribution and growth over various suburbs in a city. However, Australian metropolitan cities have experienced increases in housing prices by up to 120% over the last 20 years, and the growth pattern was different across all suburbs in a city, such as in Melbourne. Therefore, this study examines the impacts of locational amenities on house price changes across various suburbs in Melbourne over the three census periods of 2006, 2011, and 2016, and suggests some strategic guidelines to improve the availability and accessibility of locational amenities in the suburbs with less concentrated amenities.

This study chose three Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Maribyrnong, Brimbank and Wyndham in Melbourne. Each LGA has been selected as a case study because many low-income people live in these LGAs’ areas. Further, some suburbs of these LGAs have maintained similar housing prices for an extended time, while some have not.

The study applied a quantitative spatial methodology to examine the housing price distribution and growth patterns by evaluating the concentration and accessibility of locational urban amenities using GIS-based techniques and a spatial data set. The spatial data analyses were performed by spatial statistics methods to measure central tendency, Local Moran’s I of LISA clustering, Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), Kernel Density Smoothing (KDS). These tests were used to find the patterns of house price distribution and growth. The study also identified the accessibility of amenities in relation to median house price distribution and growth. Spatial Autoregressive Regression (SAR), Spatial Lag, and Spatial Errors models were used to identify the spatial dependencies to test the statistical significance between the median house price and the concentration and access of local urban amenities over the three census years.

This study found three median house price distribution and growth patterns among the suburbs in the three selected LGAs. There are growth differences in the median house price for different census years between 2006 and 2011, 2011 and 2016, and 2006 and 2016. The Low-High (LH) median house price distribution clusters between 2006 and 2011 became High-High (HH) clusters between the census years 2011 and 2016, and 2006 and 2016. The median house price growth rate increased significantly in the census years between 2006 and 2011. Most of the HH median house price distribution and growth clusters’ tendencies were closer to the Melbourne CBD. On the other hand, the Low-Low (LL) distribution and growth clusters were closer to Melbourne’s periphery. The suburbs located further away had low access to amenities. The HH median house price clusters are located closer to stations and educational institutes. Better access to locational amenities led to more significant HH median house price clusters, as the median house price increased at an increasing rate between 2011 and 2016. The HH median house price clusters recorded more growth between 2006 and 2016. The suburbs with train stations had better access to most other locational amenities. Almost all HH median house price clusters had train stations with higher access to amenities.

There was a consistent relationship between median house price distribution, growth patterns, and locational urban amenities. The spatial lag and spatial error model tests showed that between 2006 and 2011, and 2006 and 2016, there were differences in the amenities. Still, these did not affect the outcomes in observations, and were related only to immeasurable factors for some reason. Therefore, the higher house price in the neighbouring suburb could increase the price in that suburb. The research also found from the regression analysis that highly significant amenities confirming travel time to the CBD by bus, and distance to the CBD, were negatively related in all three previous census years. This negative relationship estimates that the house price growth is lower when the distance is longer. Due to this travel to the CBD by bus is not a popular option for households. The train stations are essential for high house price growth. The house price growth is low when homes are further away from train stations and workplaces.

This thesis has three contributions. Firstly, it uses the Rational Choice Theory (RCT), providing a theoretical basis for analysing households’ mutually interdependent preferences of urban amenities that are found to regulate house price growth clusters. Secondly, the methodological contribution uses the GIS-defined cluster mapping and spatial statistics in queries and reasoning, measurements, transformations, descriptive summaries, optimisation, and hypothesis testing models between house price distribution and growth, and access to urban locational amenities. Thirdly, this research contributes to designing practical guidelines to identify local urban amenities for planning local area development.

Overall, this thesis demonstrates that the median house price distribution and growth patterns are highly correlated with the concentration and accessibility of locational urban amenities among the suburbs in three selected LGAs in Melbourne over the three census years (i.e., 2006, 2011, and 2016). The findings bring to the fore the need for research at the local and state levels to identify specific amenities relevant to the middle-class house distribution strategy, which can be helpful for investors, estate agents, town planners, and builders as partners for effective local development. The future study might use social, psychological, and macroeconomic variables not considered or used in this research.

Median prices for dwellings/townhouses, and apartments by their year of settlement for the City of Melbourne by CLUE Small area.

The Toorak area was the most expensive housing suburb in Melbourne, Australia as of March 2025, with a median property value of around *** million Australian dollars. The Canterbury suburb had the next highest prices for housing, at around **** million dollars.

In the third quarter of 2023, the median price of residential property transfers for established housing in Melbourne came to around *** thousand Australian dollars. The highest median price of established housing transfers within the given time period was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021.

This statistic shows median price for a three-bedroom house in Melbourne, Australia in 2015/2016, by region. In that year, the median price for a three-bedroom house in Outer Melbourne was ******* Australian dollars.

The rent price index in Australia in the first quarter of 2025 was *****, marking an increase from the same quarter of the previous year. Rent prices had decreased in 2020; in Melbourne and Sydney, this was mainly attributed to the absence of international students during the coronavirus outbreak. The current state of the rental market in Australia The rental market in Australia has been marked by varying conditions across different regions. Among the capital cities, Sydney has long been recognized for having some of the highest average rents. As of March 2025, the average weekly rent for a house in Sydney was *** Australian dollars, which was the highest average rent across all major cities in Australia that year. Furthermore, due to factors like population growth and housing demand, regional areas have also seen noticeable increases in rental prices. For instance, households in the non-metropolitan area of New South Wales’ expenditure on rent was around ** percent of their household income in the year ending June 2024. Housing affordability in Australia Housing affordability remains a significant challenge in Australia, contributing to a trend where many individuals and families rent for prolonged periods. The underlying cause of this issue is the ongoing disparity between household wages and housing costs, especially in large cities. While renting offers several advantages, it is worth noting that the associated costs may not always align with the expectation of affordability. Approximately one-third of participants in a recent survey stated that they pay between ** and ** percent of their monthly income on rent. Recent government initiatives, such as the 2024 Help to Buy scheme, aim to make it easier for people across Australia to get onto the property ladder. Still, the multifaceted nature of Australia’s housing affordability problem requires continued efforts to strike a balance between market dynamics and the need for accessible housing options for Australians.

In 2024, one square meter of greenfield land cost an average of ***** Australian dollars in Melbourne, Australia. This remained around the same level compared to the green land cost per square meter in the previous year.

The report lists the percentage shift in median prices between quarters as well as the change over a 12-month period. An overall Melbourne metropolitan median sale price and country Victoria median sale price are also included for each property type.

Mortgage Rate in Australia decreased to 5.51 percent in September from 5.52 percent in August of 2025. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for Australia Mortgage Rate.

The Victorian Property Sales Report (VPSR) covers the number of properties sold per quarter, median price and percentage change over a period of 15 months. Data is split by property type: house, unit or vacant land. An overall Melbourne metropolitan median sale price and country Victoria median sale price are also included for each property type.