Welcome to Paint by Numbers, a new series about the big issues of the day via the numbers. Our first instalment: the story of housing in Australia via 30 years in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s home suburb of Marrickville.
Price of Albanese’s first house, bought in 1990: $146,000
Average annual salary in 1990*: $25,511.20
Value of a “representative cottage” in Marrickville 1990: $180,000
Price that Albanese’s first house sold for in 1995: $186,000
Price of Albanese’s second house, bought in 1995: $242,000
Average annual salary in 1995-1996: $28,494
Price that Albanese’s second house sold for in 2001: $442,000
Average annual salary in 2000-2001: $34,745
Price of a house Albanese bought in 2006: $997,500
Price of (a different) house Albanese bought in 2012: $1,115,000
Price the 2012 house was sold for in 2024: $2.5 million
Median house price in Marrickville in 2024: $1,920,000
Average salary in November 2023*: $73,495.20
Growth in house value in Marrickville, Sydenham and Petersham, 1992-2022: $1,539,280, or 660.1%
Growth in annual salary 1990*-2023*: $48,984.20 or 192%
*Based on an annualisation of the ABS average weekly wage for all employees at the time.
