Price movements
Australian property prices have maintained their upward trajectory through December and into January, establishing new peak values across both housing and unit sectors. This sustained appreciation reflects the persistent imbalance between strong population growth and constrained housing supply, with recent inflation data suggesting earlier-than expected interest rate reductions may further support market momentum into 2025.
Market conditions are showing encouraging signs, with construction costs stabilising and improved sentiment around future financing costs. These factors are contributing to a more optimistic outlook for both buyers and developers.
Both houses and units demonstrated aligned growth in January, each posting a 0.7 per cent monthly increase. This parallel performance has pushed the national house price to $903,037, while unit values have reached $673,291, highlighting the broad-based nature of the current market strength.
Australian property prices have maintained their upward trajectory through December and into January, establishing new peak values across both housing and unit sectors. This sustained appreciation reflects the persistent imbalance between strong population growth and constrained housing supply, with recent inflation data suggesting earlier-than expected interest rate reductions may further support market momentum into 2025.
Market conditions are showing encouraging signs, with construction costs stabilising and improved sentiment around future financing costs. These factors are contributing to a more optimistic outlook for both buyers and developers.
Both houses and units demonstrated aligned growth in January, each posting a 0.7 per cent monthly increase. This parallel performance has pushed the national house price to $903,037, while unit values have reached $673,291, highlighting the broad-based nature of the current market strength.
Perth continues to lead Australia’s housing market momentum, recording an impressive annual growth of 16.7 per cent and a monthly gain of 1.1 per cent. Sydney matched Perth’s monthly pace of 1.1 per cent, pushing its mean house price to $1,589,179, though its annual growth remains more modest.
Adelaide’s market performance continues to benefit from its connection to the mining sector, mirroring Perth’s strong fundamentals with an annual increase of 10.2 per cent, bringing its mean price to $887,266. In contrast, Melbourne’s market shows minimal momentum, with Brisbane’s mean prices steadily narrowing the gap as Melbourne posts just 0.1 per cent year-on-year growth.
Collectively, major cities achieved annual price appreciation of six per cent, moderately exceeding the national average of 5.9 per cent, highlighting the varying dynamics across Australia’s metropolitan markets.
The unit market continues to echo broader housing trends, with Perth maintaining its position as the nation’s strongest performer. The city posted a monthly gain of 1.1 per cent and an impressive annual increase of 17.4 per cent. Adelaide’s unit market has also demonstrated robust performance, achieving 13.2 per cent year-on-year growth.
Brisbane’s strong population growth continues to drive its unit market forward, recording a 0.8 per cent monthly increase and substantial 12.6 per cent growth compared to January 2024. This has pushed the city’s mean unit price to $686,455, positioning it behind only Sydney and the Gold Coast in terms of value.
Melbourne’s unit market continues to face challenges, with year-on-year growth of just 0.2 per cent, significantly underperforming the major cities’ average of 4.7 per cent, highlighting the divergent conditions across Australia’s metropolitan unit markets.
The unit market continues to echo broader housing trends, with Perth maintaining its position as the nation’s strongest performer. The city posted a monthly gain of 1.1 per cent and an impressive annual increase of 17.4 per cent. Adelaide’s unit market has also demonstrated robust performance, achieving 13.2 per cent year-on-year growth.
Brisbane’s strong population growth continues to drive its unit market forward, recording a 0.8 per cent monthly increase and substantial 12.6 per cent growth compared to January 2024. This has pushed the city’s mean unit price to $686,455, positioning it behind only Sydney and the Gold Coast in terms of value.
Melbourne’s unit market continues to face challenges, with year-on-year growth of just 0.2 per cent, significantly underperforming the major cities’ average of 4.7 per cent, highlighting the divergent conditions across Australia’s metropolitan unit markets.
The resources sector continues to drive regional market performance, particularly in Western Australia and South Australia. Western Australia’s regional housing market has surged 14.3 per cent year-on-year, supported by both traditional iron ore strength and expanding lithium production. South Australia’s regional areas have followed closely with 12.4 per cent annual growth, benefitting from increased copper production and its positive impact on local employment and population growth.
Overall, regional Australian house prices have risen by 0.5 per cent monthly and 5.7 per cent compared to January 2024, bringing the aggregate mean to $650,855. Coastal areas in regional Queensland and New South Wales continue to attract strong interest, while regional Northern Territory and Victoria show minimal value movement, highlighting the varying impact of local economic conditions on property markets.
Regional unit markets continue to mirror house price trends, with Western Australia and South Australia leading the nation’s growth. Western Australia’s regional units have recorded a substantial 15.2 per cent year-on-year increase, while South Australia follows closely with 13.8 per cent yearly growth.
Queensland’s regional unit market maintains strong momentum, particularly in coastal areas, posting a 10.3 per cent increase compared to January 2024 and matching Western Australia’s monthly gain of 0.7 per cent. The Northern Territory stands as the only region experiencing a monthly decline of 0.2 per cent, though still maintaining modest annual growth of 0.7 per cent.
Regional Australia’s unit market continues to outperform the national average, with annual growth of seven per cent exceeding the broader Australian figure of 5.1 per cent, highlighting the ongoing strength in regional markets.
