By Nerida Conisbee, Chief Economist, Ray White
Australian house prices increased by 24.1 percent over the past 12 months. This is the highest annual growth rate Australia has ever seen.
The surge in pricing has been unusual because not only has it been consistent across Australia, but also because it has happened everywhere around the world.
While national price growth has been record-breaking, in some places we have seen significantly higher growth. Prices have doubled in eight Australian suburbs and there are some consistent trends amongst these high growth areas.
- Beachside – higher demand for holiday homes and more people working remotely drove beachside locations through the pandemic. Five of the eight suburbs that doubled in price were beachside. South Carnarvon, 900 kilometres north of Perth remains relatively affordable, despite doubling, with a median of $195,000. Meanwhile, Whale Beach in Sydney now has a median of over $6.6 million
- Regional – only one suburb on the list was not regional and that was Whale Beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
- Mining – mining towns did very well in 2021, however topping the list was Lightning Ridge in north-western NSW with price increasing by over 150 per cent. Famous for black opals, there could be some truth to Vogue’s report that they are coming back in fashion.
- Agriculture – great agricultural conditions flowed through to residential property in many places in 2021. In terms of price growth, however, it was Bourke and Hillston that topped the list, both more than doubling in 2021.
