With such a large land mass and variety of geography and housing,
Australia’s property markets vary significantly from region to region.
Australia’s municipalities are a diverse lot; they range in size from the Shire of East Pilbara which covers 372,000 square kilometres (an area larger than Victoria and about equal to the total land mass of Japan) to the Peppermint Grove Shire Council which covers just 1 square kilometre and is Australia’s smallest council region. The size of the council has no real bearing on the size of the property market. East Pilbara, for example, despite being the largest administrative region in
Australia, recorded just five house sales over the last twelve months.
Each council does, however, have very different property markets and policies regarding how property is governed. Rates and charges vary significantly from council to council, property investors are often treated differently to owner occupiers and development rules are far from consistent between councils. For those considering purchasing in any area around
Australia it is important to understand these nuances before making a decision.
In terms of capital growth, there has been a varied performance across
Australia’s regions. Most property owners hold their asset for longer than five years, so we have included the five year and ten year annualised change in median house prices as part of our analysis. Over the longer term it is difficult to find an area that has recorded a decline in prices. Regions in
New South Wales are the exception over the last five years due to the soft property market conditions that have existed.
The largest municipal property markets (based on the number of house sales) are located in South East Queensland where the council areas are larger than average.
Brisbane, Moreton, Gold Coast,
Sunshine
Coast and
Logan have recorded the highest volume of house sales over the last year compared to all council regions around the nation. These regions alone account for 13.3 percent of house sales nationally and 15.3 percent of the value of house sales nationally.
The largest municipality in
Australia, based on the number of houses transacted over the last year, is the capital of
Queensland:
Brisbane. 4,160 houses sold over the last year within the boundary of Brisbane City Council equating to 5.1 percent of all house sales throughout
Australia. The large number of sales is partly due to
Brisbane’s large area - just over 1,300 square kilometres.
Brisbane’s median house price has increased at the rate of 11.5 percent per annum over the last ten years providing above average returns for property owners.
Looking at the costs of detached housing in each council region, the most expensive municipalities are found in the inner city and coastal regions of
Perth and
Sydney.
Perth’s Cottesloe is the most expensive: across 77 house sales recorded last year the Cottesloe region is showing a median house price of $2 million; slightly higher than
Sydney’s Mosman at $1.92 million. The Cottesloe council region is one of
Australia’s smallest in area at just 3.9 square kilometres with 4 kilometres of ocean frontage and comprising just one suburb (Cottesloe).
At the other end of the spectrum are the most affordable municipalities around
Australia. These regions tend to contrast massive land areas with very small populations. The economies are largely based on agriculture, grazing or mining. Land supply in these regions is plentiful and population’s are generally in decline.
The Central Darling Shire Council is the most affordable based on a median house price of just $39,000. The region covers 53,000 square kilometres and has a population of just 2,000 residents.
