While Australian home owners may be feeling a tad nervous after hearing house prices have fallen for the first time in 20 months, buyers will be sitting up and taking notes.
According to two leading monthly indices — CoreLogic and REA's PropTrack — the national monthly fall is at about 0.1 per cent.
Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra lead the falls, while Adelaide, Brisbane and some regional areas are continuing to post steep price growth.
There are always two sides to the coin
Just like home owners may see the latest house price news as a negative, buyers may feel some long-forgotten optimism about getting back into the market.
Similarly, median prices do not tell the full story. Median values do not necessarily mean all houses in a particularly favourable growth area will increase in price.
These statistics provide a snapshot of the properties that were sold in that time period.
Ultimately, your home's value will be determined by how much a buyer would pay for it.
Ready to buy? Here are the areas experiencing price growth in your capital city
According to CoreLogic, the top three suburbs in each capital city are mostly clustered in the same areas.
In Greater Melbourne, the Mornington Peninsula is by far the best area for price growth.
The Logan-Beaudesert region in Greater Brisbane has also bucked the national trend, while prices in Perth's north-west continue to climb.
For would-be home owners and investors, let's drill down into your capital's top three burgeoning suburbs.
Greater Sydney
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Maraylya |
$1,605,065 |
30.4 per cent |
Box Hill |
$1,398,477 |
29 per cent |
Mount Victoria |
$801,587 |
28.4 per cent |
Despite the country's most populous city leading the trend for house price declines, there are still pockets where growth is happening.
The Baulkham Hills and Hawkesbury region is home to the two best suburbs as far as growth goes.
About 43 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district, Maraylya and Box Hill are virtually next-door neighbours and share similar statistics and demographics.
Maraylya was the best performer with a median house value of $1,605,065, which is an annual change of 30.4 per cent.
The median weekly household income, according to the 2016 census, was $2,133 per week.
Rentals made up 15.2 per cent of the occupied private dwellings.
Mount Victoria rounds out the top three.
Located in the Blue Mountains in the outer west, you'll clock about 120 kilometres by road to reach the CBD.
The median weekly income was $1,065 back in 2016 and 22.7 per cent of the suburb's residents rented.
Greater Melbourne
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Tootgarook |
$1,148,420 |
22 per cent |
St Andrew's Beach |
$1,509,360 |
21.6 per cent |
Sorrento |
$2,304,891 |
20.8 per cent |
The Mornington Peninsula boasts the top 10 suburbs for price growth in greater Melbourne.
Median house values vary wildly in the top 3 but all have one thing in common — values are holding strong and rising.
Tootgarook was the best performer.
Located 80 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD, Tootgarook has a median weekly household income of $1,023 and rentals make up 27 per cent of the market.
Further up the road is Sorrento, home to the mansions on millionaire's walk.
The median value of houses is markedly higher here but interestingly, the median household income is not much more at $1,136.
A whopping 64.5 per cent of occupied private dwellings are owned outright (without a mortgage) while 13.6 per cent are rentals.
On the opposite side of the peninsula is the coastal village of St Andrew's Beach, where the median weekly household income is $1,652 while the median weekly rent is lower than the nation's ($335) at $294.
Greater Brisbane
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Cedar Grove |
$801,831 |
45 per cent |
Logan Central |
$473,578 |
42.1 per cent |
Cedar Vale |
$841,756 |
41.6 per cent |
If you are a home owner in the Logan-Beaudesert region, the figures look impressive. Classified as a mixed-use locality in the city of Logan, Cedar Grove is about 25 kilometres from Brisbane's CBD.
According to the 2016 census, the median weekly household income was $1,793 and 61.6 per cent of people in Cedar Grove have a mortgage.
Logan Central, as the name would suggest, is the CBD and administrative centre of the City of Logan.
The median weekly household income in 2016 was $856 and 57 per cent of private dwellings were rentals.
The rural locality of Cedar Vale showed a median household income of $1,863 with just 8.2 per cent renting.
Greater Adelaide
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Beaumont |
$1,783,745 |
43.8 per cent |
O'Sullivan Beach |
$534,156 |
38.7 per cent |
Modbury North |
$596,655 |
38.7 per cent |
The top three performers in Greater Adelaide are spread out over a wider distance.
Beaumont in the Adelaide-Central Hills region is just 8 kilometres from the CBD.
With a relatively high median weekly household income of $2,265, the proportion paying rent greater than or equal to 30 per cent of that income (according to the 2016 census) sits at just 3 per cent.
The seaside suburb of O'Sullivan Beach in the south has much lower house prices but also lower weekly incomes — the median sitting at $891 in 2016.
There's a pretty even three-way split of those who own their homes outright, those who have a mortgage and those who rent.
In Modbury North, which sits 14 kilometres from the CBD, the median weekly household income sits around $1,400 and close to 45 per cent have a mortgage.
Greater Hobart
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Primrose Sands |
$579,571 |
28.1 per cent |
Tranmere |
$1,119,609 |
26.4 per cent |
Acton Park |
$1,316,007 |
25.7 per cent |
In 2016, the median weekly household income for the mixed urban and rural locality of Primrose Sands was $744.
Rentals made up 23.6 per cent of occupied private dwellings with the median weekly rental costing $200.
At Tranmere, the house prices double and median weekly household income rises accordingly to $1,966.
Nearly 39 per cent of houses are owned outright.
Over in Acton Park, the median household income sits at $2,195 with just 3.4 per cent of occupied private dwellings listed as rentals.
Greater Perth
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Watermans Bay |
$1,276,719 |
14.9 per cent |
Ocean Reef |
$990,680 |
14.5 per cent |
Carine |
$1,107,087 |
14.5 per cent |
The best-performing suburbs in Greater Perth experienced modest growth.
Perth's north-west fared best, with Watermans Bay experiencing growth of 14.9 per cent.
The northern coastal suburb has a median household income of $1,927 and renters make up 28.6 per cent of occupied private dwellings.
Further up the coast at Ocean Reef, median house values are less but weekly household income more generous at $2,245.
In nearby Carine, 45 per cent own their homes outright and there's a median weekly household income of $2,242.
Greater Darwin
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Nakara |
$637,057 |
16.2 per cent |
Wagaman |
$513,276 |
26.4 per cent |
Wulagi |
$579,251 |
15 per cent |
In the Top End, the top-performing suburbs are right next door to each other, approximately 13 kilometres from the CBD.
The three suburbs have similar statistics and demographics.
Nakara boasts the highest median value and median weekly household income of $2,261, while rentals make up 32.4 per cent of occupied private dwellings.
Canberra
Suburb |
Median Value |
Annual Change |
|---|---|---|
Denman Prospect |
$1,221,771 |
32.9 per cent |
Waramanga |
$971,167 |
30.7 per cent |
Coombs |
$760,037 |
29.8 per cent |
The nation's capital has a number of suburbs to watch as far as house price growth is concerned. Denman Prospect is a suburb currently under development and as such has no 2016 census data.
Waramanga, on the other hand, was established in the late-1960s and has a 30.1 per cent rate of homes owned outright.
The median weekly household income is $1,875.
In Coombs, 74 per cent of occupied private dwellings are owned with a mortgage and the median weekly household income is $2,315.
