Sydney the only capital city with rising unit prices: Residex
Sydney is the only major capital city to register an increase in apartment prices over the past 12 months as the overall market declined by 1.57% for the year to October 2011, according to research by Residex.
Over this period Sydney units increased by 2.77% to a median price of $485,500. However this growth rate was a little more than half the 5.05% achieved annually by Sydney units over the last decade.
Of late, Sydney unit prices have remained flat, declining by 0.54% over the last three months to October and rising just 0.42% of the month of October.
Rental increases have not kept up with capital values.
For the year to October, Sydney unit rents increased by 2.27% to a median of $440 per week, below Darwin, which at $450 a week is the most expensive place to rent an apartment across Australia.
According to Residex, the average price of a unit in Australia now stands at $394,500 with a median rent of $355 a week.
Over the last 12 months, Perth suffered the biggest drop in unit prices of 6.55% to $379,000 followed by Hobart (- 5.94%), Brisbane (- 3.48%), Melbourne (- 3.31%) and Adelaide (-1.08%).
Outside of Sydney, the only regions to record median unit prices increases over the last 12 months were the ACT (up 2.75% to $422,000) and country Victoria (up 1.79% to $255,500).
Area | Median Value | Growth | |||
10 Years % p.a. | Year Ending Oct 2011 | Last Quarter | Last Month | ||
ACT | $422,000 | 9.46% | 2.75% | -1.46% | -2.02% |
$312,000 | 9.82% | -1.08% | 1.25% | 0.56% | |
SA Country | $231,000 | 7.71% | 0.03% | -1.39% | 1.23% |
$352,000 | 9.07% | -3.48% | -1.74% | -0.98% | |
QLD Country | $315,000 | 8.16% | -8.30% | 0.78% | 0.19% |
$386,500 | 10.44% | -8.38% | -1.25% | -0.95% | |
Northern Territory | $377,000 | 10.52% | -7.38% | -1.38% | -1.22% |
$267,000 | 9.88% | -5.94% | -4.27% | -0.41% | |
TAS Country | $205,500 | 10.01% | -10.16% | -0.83% | -1.24% |
$435,500 | 7.04% | -3.31% | -3.13% | -1.53% | |
VIC Country | $255,500 | 8.30% | 1.79% | -2.15% | -1.65% |
$379,000 | 9.33% | -6.65% | -2.43% | -0.76% | |
WA Country | $297,000 | 6.92% | -5.28% | -0.17% | -1.93% |
$485,500 | 5.05% | 2.77% | -0.54% | 0.42% | |
NSW Country | $302,500 | 6.98% | -0.39% | 0.75% | 0.49% |
Australia | $394,500 | 6.62% | -1.57% | -0.98% | -0.52% |
Source: Residex