Sydney will have a $1 million median in two years if current growth is sustained

Sydney’s growth statistics, if sustained, will see the median price pushed up to above $1,000,000 in less than two years.

All eastern seaboard capital cities have seen their housing prices rise, according to the latest edition of the Bendigo Bank/REIA Real Estate Market Facts report released today.

The report, which looked at the June quarter 2014, reported a good result for eastern capitals but a far different story in Hobart and Perth.

Melbourne saw the greatest increase, with a 3.3% lift to $658,000. This was closely followed by Sydney, up 3.1% to $811,837. Notably, this is the first time Sydney has pushed past the $800,000 mark.

New South Wales retains the title as the least affordable place to buy a home – a title it has held since March 2009.

If this 3.1% growth rate was continued for Sydney, a quick calculation reveals that in seven quarters of consecutive 3.1% increases on each new figure will take the median house price to $1,005,203 (rounded to the nearest dollar).

The trend overall for Australia, however, was a 2% increase over the quarter, to $617,232, explained REIA president Peter Bushby.

“The report is good news for home owners in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra, which all showed increases in the median house price over the last quarter,” said Bushby.

“Darwin also saw a very slight increase while house prices are down in Perth and Hobart,” he said.

“While Sydney and Melbourne house prices have received a lot of media attention lately, the report also showed solid growth for Brisbane with a quarterly increase of 2.2% seeing the median house price now at $470,000,” he said.

Adelaide and Canberra recorded increases of 0.8% and 0.9% respectively, with Darwin up 0.1%.