New record in Australia's housing crisis

Perth Now

17 hours ago

In a further sign of just how hard it is to break into the housing market, the value of Australia's 11.3 million homes has surpassed an insane figure.
The ABS shows the national mean price of residential dwellings passed $1 million for the first time ever in the March quarter 2025 off the back of a 0.7 per cent increase in national dwelling prices.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, the total value of Australian residential homes rose by $130.7bn to $11.4 trillion for the three months until March, with the average home now costing $1,002,500.
At the same time, the number of houses in Australia rose by 53,400 to 11,338,500. Australia's housing market has surpassed the million dollar mark for the first time. Newswire / Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia
ABS head of financial statistics Mish Tan said even though Australia's house prices surpassed the million dollar figure, there were signs the market was slowing down.
'Despite the quarterly rise in national dwelling value, annual growth in the March quarter slowed to 5.9 per cent. This was down from 9.5 per cent in March quarter 2024', Dr Tan said.
Property values varied state to state, with the growth in national prices led by Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland.
Queensland has now become the second most expensive state behind New South Wales.
Separate research by PropTrack revealed Perth had surpassed Melbourne in terms of house prices for the first time in a decade.
PropTrack senior economist Eleanor Creagh said the rise in Perth has come off the back of many years of strong performance.
'The shift reflects the turnaround in Western Australia's housing market since 2022, underpinned by a unique combination of affordability, population growth, investor demand and supply constraints,' she said. Housing in Sydney remains the most expensive NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers Credit: News Corp Australia
According to PropTrack, despite falling in the rankings, Melbourne had the strongest monthly rises up 0.79 per cent in May, but it is coming off a prolonged period of softer growth.
'Despite Melbourne leading monthly gains, Perth's median home value of $787,000 has overtaken Melbourne's at $782,000 for the first time in a decade,' she said.
'Just five years ago, Perth's home values were sitting at a deep discount relative to Melbourne's, with the median value of homes in Perth priced at nearly 40 per cent less.'