Selling prices of apartments in Australia’s largest cities jumped a record 24 per cent in the December quarter as building costs, labour shortages and a shift towards owner-occupier-grade stock pushed the average over $19,000 a square metre, new figures from Urbis show.

The leap was the biggest in a decade of data the consultancy has collected. The average price of presales and under-construction projects across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Gold Coast was also up 34 per cent year-on-year and was driven by demand in Brisbane, where off-the-plan prices leaped 33 per cent from the third quarter to $23,000, Urbis said.