- There are 10.6M residential dwellings in Australia
- ABS said value rose by almost $450B during the March quarter
- The first time the average price has risen above $1 million in any state or territory
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has announced the total value of the 10.6 million residential dwellings in Australia is now worth $8.293 trillion.
This equates to a rise of $449.9 billion in the March quarter 2021 alone – the largest such rise on record.
The announcement confirms CoreLogic’s reckoning last month that Australian property had also exceeded $8 trillion.
Mean residential dwelling prices increased to $779,000 from the $739,900 recorded during the December quarter 2020.
Michelle Marquardt, the Head of Prices Statistics at the ABS, said New South Wales, in particular, drove the large increase.
“The total value of residential dwellings in Australia surpassed $8 trillion for the first time. NSW accounted for approximately 40 per cent or $3.3 trillion of Australia’s total value of dwellings.
“The average price of residential dwellings in NSW rose to $1.01 million. This was the first time any state or territory had seen the average price of dwellings rise above $1 million.”
Michelle Marquardt, Head of Price Statistics ABS
During the March quarter, residential property prices rose by 5.4% – the strongest quarterly growth since December 2009.
More specifically, house prices rose by 6.4% – the highest quarterly increase since ABS began publishing such data in 2002 – while other dwellings rose by 2.7%.
All the capital cities recorded a rise in residential property prices with Sydney and Melbourne recording 61% and 5.1% increases respectively.
Annualised, residential property prices have risen by 7.5%, with Canberra recording the largest rise in property prices at 10.9% followed by Hobart at 10.2% and Perth at 9%.
“Results this quarter were consistent with housing market conditions. Strong demand for housing was supported by record low interest rates, government initiatives, and rising consumer confidence.
“Price rises were observed in all segments of the housing market with growth in house prices continuing to outpace price growth in attached dwellings.”
