22 June 2021

See the Canberra suburbs in the million-dollar club

| Ian Bushnell
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Yarralumla house

This Yarralumla house at 14 Musgrave Street fetched $5 million at auction in April. Photo: Zango.

Seventeen new ACT suburbs have soared into the million-dollar club this year as Canberra’s runaway housing market reaches unprecedented heights.

CoreLogic’s inaugural Million Dollar Markets report has identified 218 markets across the country where either house or unit median values in a suburb reached the million-dollar mark in May 2021 compared to May 2020.

In the ACT, 22 suburbs made the million-dollar median house and unit list, with leafy inner south suburb Griffith leading the way with the city’s highest median house value at $2,198,510.

Hughes has made the biggest splash into the million-dollar club, with a median house value of $1,363,733, up from $965,290 a year ago.

Other notables include Mawson, which a year ago had a median value of $743,343 but is now comfortably in seven figures at $1,069,081.

Five Canberra suburbs already had million-dollar-plus median values in May 2020, all in the inner south, apart from Campbell across the lake.

After Griffith, Red Hill, Deakin, Yarralumla and Campbell take the honours, followed by newcomer Hughes.

The list shows the leaping values beyond the inner suburbs, particularly in the Woden Valley, Weston Creek and Belconnen.

Million dollar houses

More Canberra suburbs are joining the million-dollar club. Image: CoreLogic.

Agents have reported intense demand for stand-alone houses, large numbers of bidders, high auction clearance rates and many pre-auction arrangments.

It comes down to cheap money, relatively high incomes and not enough stock on the market.

Those deterred by the high prices have had to readjust their expectations and shoot for townhouses or apartments.

CoreLogic’s Head of Research Australia, Eliza Owen, said the boom had led to property value increases ranging from 5.0 per cent across greater Melbourne dwellings to a 20.3 per cent rise in values across Darwin, pushing more markets up to, and beyond, the million-dollar mark.

“In the last 12 months, 218 markets joined the million-dollar club; 198 of which were house markets and 20 unit markets. A quarter of the markets (24.8 per cent) that ticked over the million-dollar median were in Sydney, with 54 suburbs seeing either house or unit median values in a suburb join the million-dollar club,” she said.

The highest frequency of suburbs ticking over the million-dollar median was in Sydney, with 54 markets seeing either houses or units reach a median of $1 million or more, accounting for 24.8 per cent of all markets.

Over the year to March, Sydney also had around 40 per cent of sales transact for at least $1 million.

CoreLogic says the current housing boom across Australia is also very broad-based.

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The only people complaining seem to be those not owning property in Canberra.

ChrisinTurner4:36 pm 24 Jun 21

Strange that Reid is not in the Club.

HiddenDragon7:42 pm 21 Jun 21

Slightly odd list – excludes some suburbs which would easily make the million dollar club, but perhaps have so few sales that median or other averages could be misleading (a factor which might also explain some of the big year on year jumps in listed suburbs).

One of the issues likely to be raised by these insane prices (if the RBA et. al. can stop the price bubble from imploding) will be the oh so delicate question of reintroducing estate duties. The “here’s why”, “it’s time we look at”, “we need to talk about” articles have already started appearing – the positioning on this, particularly by people who are all-in on the stamp duty-land tax transition, is going to be so much fun to watch.

Capital Retro1:52 pm 21 Jun 21

Glad to see the madness hasn’t reached Tuggeranong suburbs yet.

Residential rates on properties are linked to land values.
Leaping house prices means leaping land values, means leaping rates.
Even if you don’t sell your house and want to remain in it, the rise in land values from surrounding property sales will push up everyone’s rates.
As residential rates go up rents also go up as rising costs have to passed on to tenants.
Rising house prices + rising rates + rising rents + zero wage rises = falling housing affordability.
Greens/Labor: Making the rich richer and the poor poorer.

This is a strange comment.

Firstly, it assumes that the local ACT government is fully in control of house prices in the ACT which is just silly.

Secondly, if the government is charging ever higher progressively designed taxes on rich people, how exactly are they “making them richer”?

Thirdly, rates do not dictate the rental market. Landlords cannot just pass through costs, the market determines rents based on supply and demand. If Landlords could just arbitrarily increase rents, they already would be.

And lastly, if the government is charging ever higher taxes, this means they would have more revenue to provide essential services, which you would think would be a good thing if you’re worried about the poor.

And in other news Monday follows Sunday.

Oh and BTW the same thing, rising house prices and rates linked to lane value happens in NSW. Is that Labor’s fault too or the Libs who run NSW?

And getting back to Canberra if the Libs were in power what would they do differently. Here’s a hint, not much at all.

Hmmm….your logic seems to work something like this:
1. All witches are things that can burn.
2. All things that can burn are made of wood.
3. Therefore, all witches are made of wood. (from 1 & 2)
4. All things that are made of wood are things that can float.
5. All things that weigh as much as a duck are things that can float.
6. So all things that weigh as much as a duck are things that are made of wood. (from 4
& 5)
7. Therefore, all witches are things that weigh as much as a duck. (from 3 & 6)
8. This thing is a thing that weighs as much as a duck.
9. Therefore, this thing is a witch. (from 7 & 8)

And a more animated version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp_l5ntikaU

Re my comment about NSW there is an article in today’s (Tuesday) SMH saying rising property prices are the major contributor to the NSW deficit forecast being changed from $13b to $8b this FY and to as low as $500m by FY 24/25. Of course in NSW that is through stamp duty, so presumably the councils will also reap gain too through higher property values.

But all ACT Labor/Greens fault.

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