Average Australian home value passes record $1 million
The value of an average Australian home has soared through the $1 million mark for the first time despite a slowdown in growth as the Albanese government fights to contain the housing affordability crisis.
Fresh figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday showed the average Australian home was worth $1,002,500 in the March quarter, up $6900 from the last three months of 2024.
The total value of the country's $11.4 trillion residential housing market climbed $131 billion – or 1.2 per cent – in the first three months of the year.
All states and territories recorded growth in the March quarter, but the annual growth rate slowed to 5.9 per cent, down from 9.5 per cent at the same time last year.
It came as the number of residential homes grew to 11.3 million, up 53,400 from the December quarter.
The Albanese government, which swept into its second term on an overwhelming majority, has promised to improve housing affordability. However, its own independent adviser, the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, warned that the Labor government's National Housing Accord was set to fall 262,000 short of its 1.2 million target for new homes by the end of the decade.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday, said a key barrier to affordable housing was red tape.
'One of the things that we have to do is to make it easier,' he said. 'Developers say that it's just too complex [and it] adds to costs as well.'
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