More Sydney suburbs now have a median house value of at least $2 million

This retrospective look at median dwelling values across Australia  highlights the deterioration of affordable housing across the capital cities over the past five years. 

At the end of 2016, 7.6% of suburbs nationally had a median house value under $200,000 and 5.9% of suburbs had a median unit value below $200,000.

To put these figures into some perspective, 11.4% of suburbs had a median house value of at least $1 million and 3.0% of suburbs had a median unit value of at least $1 million.

Over the five years to the end of 2016, a substantial decline occurred in the proportion of suburbs with a median value below $400,000.

As a comparison, at the end of 2011, 53.5% of suburbs had a median house value of less than $400,000 and 69.8% of suburbs had a median unit value of less than $400,000.

By the end of 2016, the proportion of suburbs with a median value of less than $400,000 fell to 41.0% for houses, and 55.3% for units.

Looking back at the individual capital cities over the past five years highlights a significant shift in the proportion of suburbs with a median value under $400,000, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. 

Today’s analysis revealed that five years ago, with the exception of Darwin and Canberra, every capital city had at least 20% of its suburbs with a median house value of less than $400,000.

At the end of last year, it was virtually impossible to find houses for less than $400,000 in Sydney, Darwin and Canberra while less than 7% of suburbs had a median house value below $400,000 in Melbourne.

We noted that across each city there has been a substantial decline in affordable housing over the past year despite the fact that outside of Sydney and Melbourne there has been only moderate value growth over the period.

Even units recorded a fairly substantial decline in the proportion of suburbs with a median value of less than $400,000 over the past five years.

For those earning a relatively low income in Sydney and looking to buy a house or unit, they are competing for a rapidly declining pool of housing stock across the city.

The pool is also declining across the remaining capitals, albeit not at the same pace of decline as in Sydney.

Key Findings:

• At the end of 2016, looking at both houses and units, 20.5% of Sydney suburbs had a median value of less than $600,000 compared to 38.5% of suburbs having a median value of at least $1 million. To further highlight deteriorating housing affordability in Sydney, 34.6% of suburbs had a median unit value of less than $600,000 at the end of 2016. In each other capital city, a higher proportion of suburbs had a median house value of less than $600,000 than the proportion of suburbs with a median unit value of less than $600,000.

• In 2011, the proportion of total suburbs with a median house value below $400,000 across each capital city was: 21.2% in Sydney, 28.9% in Melbourne, 40.9% in Brisbane, 40.5% in Adelaide, 31.1% in Perth, 69.2% in Hobart, 2.1% in Darwin and 1.1% in Canberra.

• Units offered a more affordable option highlighted by the proportions of suburbs values below $400,000 at: 38.8% in Sydney, 48.2% in Melbourne, 81.7% in Brisbane, 94.3% in Adelaide, 59.8% in Perth, 92.7% in Hobart, 53.3% in Darwin and 44.6% in Canberra.

• The proportion of suburbs with a median house value of less than $400,000 at the end of 2016 was recorded at: 0.1% in Sydney, 6.3% in Melbourne, 29.2% in Brisbane, 28.0% in Adelaide, 18.9% in Perth, 52.1% in Hobart and 0.0% in Darwin and Canberra. For units the proportions were recorded at: 6.5% in Sydney, 31.8% in Melbourne, 62.7% in Brisbane, 85.1% in Adelaide, 46.4% in Perth, 88.4% in Hobart, 57.6% in Darwin and 45.8% in Canberra.

from Property UpdateProperty Update http://propertyupdate.com.au/more-sydney-suburbs-now-have-a-median-house-value-of-at-least-2-million/