While Sydney house prices hit record highs in May, an unlikely city has ranked second with its hefty home costs.
CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless discusses the reports that Brisbane has become the second most expensive Australian city, overtaking Canberra and Melbourne.
“To be clear, there’s more people moving from Sydney to Southeast Queensland then from Melbourne to Southeast Queensland,” Mr Lawless told Sky News Australia.
“That is starting to normalise.
“We’re seeing interstate migration in Victoria does look like it’s sort of steadying out.”
Brisbane has become the second most expensive capital in the country for the first time since 1997, according to data company CoreLogic.
The Queensland capital’s median home value of $843,231 put it about $3,000 above the median Canberra home value and $63,000 above Melbourne’s median value.
Brisbane’s soaring home prices put it well above the Victorian capital as a high concentration of relatively cheap units brought Melbourne’s median home value down.
While Sydney sits comfortably in the top spot, Brisbane has become the Australian city with the second most expensive homes. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
This has put both the median house and unit price in Brisbane above the median prices in Melbourne – a great contrast to pre-pandemic prices.
Before the onset of COVID, Melbourne’s median home value was about 37 per cent higher than Brisbane and the ACT’s median was about 24 per cent higher.
But the Qld capital’s house price has jumped a staggering 59.8 per cent since the pandemic, increasing five times that of Melbourne, which has jumped 11.2 per cent.
As Brisbane nabbed second place, long-time leader Sydney hit record highs this month with its median house price coming in at $1.44m and the average unit costing $849,000.
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Home prices in the Sunshine State capital rose by 1.4 per cent in May, bringing it up by a total of 16.3 per cent for the past year.
This put it well above the average national increase of 0.8 per cent in May and almost double the annual increase of 8.3 per cent of 8.3 per cent.
However, Brisbane’s annual home price bump put it only second to Perth which jumped two per cent in the month of May and rose by an astronomic 22 per cent over the past year.
Adelaide performed similarly with a 1.8 per cent rise in the month of May and a 14.4 per cent jump across the whole year.
CoreLogic researcher Tim Lawless said considerably low levels of housing availability and soaring demand were sending prices through the roof.
CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless says there is still a “big gap” between Sydney and Brisbane house prices.
Reports show that Brisbane has become the second most expensive Australian city, only behind Sydney.
“There’s still a big gap between Sydney and Brisbane though,” Mr Lawless told Sky News Australia.
“It’s still about 37 per cent.
“At least compared to Sydney, Brisbane does still have a fairly substantial affordability advantage.”
“The number of properties available for sale in Perth and Adelaide remain more than -40 per cent below the five-year average for this time of the year while Brisbane listings are -34 per cent below average,” Mr Lawless said.
“Inventory levels in these markets remain well below average despite vendor activity lifting relative to this time last year. Fresh listings are being absorbed rapidly by market demand, keeping stock levels low and upwards pressure on prices.”
Melbourne home prices jumped by 1.8 per cent over the past year, making it one of the most affordable Australian cities when considering the national inflation rate of 3.6 per cent.