- Houses took 185 months to double, while units took 213 months
- Hobart's median house value managed to double in 6.8 years
- Perth managed to double median house values from $280K to $563K in 17.8 years
Homeowners have long been purchasing property under the belief that their property would double in value every 7 to 10 years.
However, new data from PropTrack has shown otherwise, with their most recent Market Insight revealing that, not taking into account inflation, May marked the milestone of a doubling national average median house price; the milestone took 185 months (15.4 years). The national average median unit prices also doubled, after a period of 213 months (17.8 years).
A handful of suburbs have managed to have a very quick turnaround time for doubling values. But on the whole, very few markets managed to see a doubling in ten years or under.
National median property prices
PropTrack Director of Economic Research, Cameron Kusher, said that “although it is commonly stated that property prices double every seven to ten years, this hasn’t been the case of late, with very few markets achieving this growth in under a decade, despite very strong price gains nationally throughout the pandemic.”
Tasmania and Sydney offered the quickest median doubling
Tasmania was the best-performing region for doubling median value, with Hobart managing the feat for median house values in just 82 months (6.8 years); Hobart also recorded the quickest doubling in the unit market with 94 months (7.8 years).
The rest of Tasmania was quickest for the regional areas to double, taking median house values from $265,000 to $530,000 in 70 months (5.8 years).
“Driven by more people relocating to Tasmania, increased investor interest and the fact that prior to the recent run-up in prices, the state had very cheap housing.”
Cameron Kusher, PropTrack Director of Economic Research
Sydney’s median house price also managed to double under the ten-year mark, with a leaping from $648,000 to $1,308,000 in 115 months (9.6 years). Sydney also currently has the highest median house and unit prices in Australia.
Western Australia’s median values aren’t booming
Perth was the slowest to double its median house price, taking 214 months (17.8 years) to saunter from $280,000 to $563,000. Perth’s median unit price was also the slowest to double, seeing $197,000 ambling towards $395,000 in 230 months (19.2 years).
The rest of Western Australia was also one of the slowest regional areas to double its median house price, taking 210 months (17.5 years) to potter from $215,000 to $435,000. The median unit price in this area also had the longest doubling time in any regional area, taking 223 months (18.6 years) to shift from $158,000 to $319,000.
“WA housing is very closely linked to resources and when resources investment slowed, so too did the housing market.”
Cameron Kusher, PropTrack Director of Economic Research
Regional South Australia took a considerable 206 months (17.2 years) to double a median house value of $175,000 and an additional 9 months to double the median unit price of $150,000 to $300,000.
Other Australian regions denied the decade double
Melbourne and the Australian Capital Territory doubled median house prices across 13.1 years (157 months), with Melbourne seeing prices rise from $437,000 to $880,000, and the nation’s capital going from $475,000 to $950,000.
The rest of NSW performed better than the regional average of 192 months (16 years) for houses and 210 months (17.5 years) for units, by doubling houses in 113 months (9.4 years) and units in 157 months (13.1 years).
Regional NSW also recorded the highest regional median average for both houses and units, $720,000 and $580,000 respectively.
Brisbane’s median house price took 187 months to double to the median house price of $755,000, and 227 months to double unit medians to $473,000.
