- 836 suburbs remain in Australia's million-dollar club
- 169 suburbs have fallen below the million-dollar threshold since April, with only 7 suburbs making new additions to the club
- Indicates a weakened market where housing values are falling, says Tim Lawless
New research by Corelogic has revealed that the number of suburbs in Australia’s million-dollar club has shrunk drastically in the past six months.
Just seven suburbs across Australia’s capital cities and regional areas have increased in median value to more than $1 million, while 169 suburbs have fallen below the million-dollar mark.
Corelogic Research Director Tim Lawless said several outer suburbs in Sydney and Melbourne are no longer in the million-dollar club with more affordable suburbs declining in value.
“Many of these outer fringe suburbs that have fallen below the $1 million mark were previously showing median values that were only marginally over the seven-figure threshold, so in many cases, a small percentage drop in value has been enough to push values below $1 million,” he said.
Mr Lawless added that housing values in more expensive suburbs are falling faster than the more affordable suburbs, but pointed out that these suburbs would require a significant price decline to drop below the million-dollar threshold.
There are currently 836 suburbs in Australia’s exclusive million-dollar club, with 347 of these in Sydney and 117 in Melbourne.
Unsurprisingly, Corelogic data indicates housing values are shrinking in both of these capitals with Sydney down 8.6% and Melbourne down 5.6% in the past year.
Cities by number of million dollar suburbs – Oct 22
| GCC Name | Suburbs Analysed | Suburbs with median value above $1m | Risen above $1m since April ’22 | Fallen below $1m since April ’22 |
| Greater Sydney | 628 | 347 | 0 | 64 |
| Greater Melbourne | 398 | 117 | 0 | 28 |
| Greater Brisbane | 348 | 57 | 0 | 23 |
| Greater Adelaide | 328 | 64 | 2 | 2 |
| Greater Perth | 292 | 45 | 2 | 1 |
| Greater Hobart | 46 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Greater Darwin | 37 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 98 | 34 | 0 | 8 |
| Rest of NSW | 514 | 94 | 2 | 30 |
| Rest of Vic | 216 | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| Rest of QLD | 464 | 57 | 0 | 11 |
| Rest of SA | 78 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rest of WA | 123 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Rest of Tas | 67 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rest of NT | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Combined Capitals | 2175 | 669 | 4 | 127 |
| Combined Regionals | 1474 | 167 | 3 | 42 |
| National | 3649 | 836 | 7 | 169 |
Source: Corelogic
Despite a fall in the number of Australian suburbs valued at over $1 million, this figure still lies well above pre-Covid levels.
In March 2020, there were only 393 million-dollar suburbs.
There are only seven newcomers to the million-dollar club since April this year, all scraping into the club with percentage changes as large as 4.4%.
“With this weaker trend across the more expensive end of the market, its likely we will see some ‘borderline’ million plus suburbs starting to slip below the million-dollar mark over coming months,” said Mr Lawless.
Suburbs where median values have risen above $1m since first rate rise (Apr ’22)
| GCC Name | Suburb | Median Value Oct ’22 | Median Value Apr ’22 | % Change Since Apr ’22 | $ Change Since Apr ’22 |
| Rest of NSW | |||||
| Emerald Beach | $1,006,682 | $984,402 | 2.3% | $22,280 | |
| Bonny Hills | $1,027,631 | $986,576 | 4.2% | $41,055 | |
| Rest of Vic | |||||
| Bright | $1,009,251 | $979,914 | 3.0% | $29,337 | |
| Greater Adelaide | |||||
| Forestville | $1,029,608 | $986,012 | 4.4% | $43,596 | |
| North Brighton | $1,006,910 | $977,285 | 3.0% | $29,625 | |
| Greater Perth | |||||
| Burns Beach | $1,013,913 | $982,617 | 3.2% | $31,296 | |
| Alfred Cove | $1,034,942 | $997,703 | 3.7% | $37,239 |
Source: Corelogic
Australia’s decline in million-dollar suburbs indicates a weakened property market which Mr Lawless expects to continue ahead of the seventh predicted rate rise set for December.
“It is likely values will continue to trend lower across each of the broad valuation cohorts of the market, but while the upper quartile of the housing market has led the downturn, it’s also the sector of the market that is leading the easing in the pace of declines,” he said.
“The trend over the past few months has been towards an easing in the rate of decline, especially in Sydney and Melbourne, so if that trend persists, we may not see an acceleration in the number of suburbs where the median value drops below $1 million dollars,” Mr Lawless concluded.
