Housing market value shy of $9 trillion: ABS

Home prices rose at the strongest level on record in the June quarter, taking the value of housing stock to nearly $9 trillion.

Sydney property prices grew 8.1 per cent in the June quarter. Picture: Damian Shaw

Residential property prices rose at the strongest level on record over the June quarter, pushing the value of Australia’s housing stock $596.4 billion higher to just shy of $9 trillion.

Residential property prices rose 6.7 per cent in the June quarter 2021, the strongest quarterly growth recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics‘s (ABS) Residential Property Price Index series since records began in 2003.

The increase took the total value of Australia’s 10.7 million residential dwellings to $8.92 trillion in the June quarter 2021, representing a $52,600 rise in the mean price of residential dwellings to $835,700.

Canberra and Hobart each achieved the strongest rate of growth since 2003 (up 8.2 per cent and 6.3 per cent respectively. Sydney achieved its second largest growth quarter ever recorded in the series (up 8.1 per cent) only behind the June quarter 2015.

Elsewhere, Melbourne (up 6.1 per cent) had the largest quarterly rise since the December quarter 2009. Brisbane (up 5.7 per cent) moved at a rate not seen since the June quarter of 2007, narrowly beating out Adelaide (up 5.3 per cent), which last recorded growth this strong in December 2007

ABS Head of Prices Statistics Michelle Marquardt said the shorter lockdowns over the period had little impact on the housing market.

“The continued growth in property prices was occurring at a time of record low interest rates. Persistently low levels of stock on the market were being met with strong demand and properties transacting at an increasingly rapid rate,” Ms Marquardt said.

“With the exception of Hobart and Darwin, capital cities continued to see house price rises outpace those of attached dwellings such as apartments and units, with price growth for both property types being driven by the upper segments of the market,” Ms Marquardt said.

All capital cities recorded a rise in residential property prices in the June quarter 2021.

The mean price of residential properties in NSW ($1,093,100) remained the highest in the country, followed by the ACT ($891,700) which was marginally ahead of Victoria ($891,500).

House prices in the combined capital cities rose 7.7 per cent over the quarter, outpacing unit prices which increased 4.3 per cent. Canberra was the only capital city to experience record quarterly growth in both the housing (up 8.9 per cent) and unit (up 6 per cent) segments over that time frame.

The data does not reflect the long-term Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra restrictions currently in place.