‘Nicer homes, nicer suburbs’: what home buyers get in other capitals for average Sydney price

Extreme price rises have meant Sydney home seekers pay double what buyers in other capitals do. See what the average price gets your across Australia

Extreme price rises have meant home seekers in Sydney have to pay double what buyers in other capitals do for their slice of the Aussie dream.

The average price of a Sydney dwelling, based on sales of units, houses and townhouses, shot up 19.3 per cent over the past year and hit just under $1.1 million in June, ABS data released Tuesday revealed.

The rapid growth, the fastest in six years, deepened an already wide gulf between Harbour City prices and the rest of Australia.

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An average Sydney dwelling was about $200,000 pricier than one in Melbourne or Canberra, while the typical gap between Sydney and Brisbane and Perth prices grew to over $460,000.

But it’s in the smaller capitals where the difference in prices became particularly pronounced. Harbour City home prices were, on average, double those in Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin, according to the ABS.

Other capitals all recorded significant price rises over the past year but, apart from Canberra, it was nowhere near the pace recorded for Sydney.

This house at Chester Hill is listed near the Sydney average for a home at $1,099,950.

Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth annual rises averaged 14-15 per cent. Canberra growth was similar to Sydney at 19.1 per cent.

Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said those accustomed to Sydney prices often viewed other cities as “cheap”.

“The gap has grown,” she said. “For $1.1 million you’re looking at a house in some parts of Western Sydney. But in Brisbane or the Gold Coast, you get really good value. They’re nicer homes in nicer suburbs.”

Listings data showed spending $1.1 million would buy a renovated Queenslander 9km from the Brisbane CBD in Holland Park, or a landmark three-bedroom beachfront property in Darwin’s exclusive Cullen Park estate.

This coastal home in Adelaide is available at the average Sydney home price.

And in Perth suburb Como, this house has $1.050 million guide.

In Adelaide, an oceanfront property in Marino can be purchased for $1.1 million, while the same money would get a four-bedroom house two streets back from Kingston Beach, a prestigious part of Hobart.

A similar budget in Perth would get a four-bedroom modern house with two kitchens, a bar and lush gardens in plush Como, 8km from the CBD.

Ray White Holland Park principal Piers Crawford said many Sydneysiders were moving to Brisbane to get greater value. “They (sell) their homes in Sydney and in many cases buy a far better house much closer to the city and still have money left in the bank,” he said.

This Darwin house in the suburb of Cullen Bay has a $1.1 million guide.

Hobart buyers would get this Kingston Beach for $1.1 million.

Melbourne prices are the closest to Sydney, but still much lower: this Collingwood terrace has a $1.075 million guide.

Sydney buyers spending $1.1 million would get a two-bedroom unit without a balcony or parking in Neutral Bay on the lower north shore or a four-bedroom house in the western suburb of Chester Hill.

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The ABS reported the total value of the Australian residential housing market grew by nearly $1.6 billion since the start of the Covid pandemic last year.

The total value of all residential dwellings in Australia in June was nearly $9 billion. It was about $7.3 billion in March 2020.

The national value of the market also jumped nearly $600 billion in value since March this year, the largest rise on record.