Big city suburb where homes still cost less than $200,000 despite Australian property prices surging at record pace
- Australian capital city property prices last year surged by a record 23.7 per cent
- Median house prices in the big cities soared by a third in year to December 2021
- A Brisbane suburb still has units available for $200,000, houses for $450,000
One Australian suburb in a major capital city still has homes available for $200,000 as property prices surge at a record pace.
Median house prices in most of Australia’s big cities last year climbed by a third.
When apartments were included in the mix, capital city property prices soared by 23.7 per cent – the fastest annual pace in Australian Bureau of Statistics records going back to 2003.
In Sydney, the median established house price last year surged by 32.9 per cent to an even more unaffordable $1.3 million.
One Australian suburb in a major capital city still has homes available for $200,000 as property prices surge at a record level. Woodridge in Logan, 25km south-west of Brisbane, has a median apartment price of just $170,000 (pictured is a two-bedroom unit for $220,000)
But one capital city suburb is still very affordable.
Woodridge in Logan, 25km south-west of Brisbane, has a median apartment price of just $170,000.
It was the only capital city postcode where the mid-point price for a property was under $200,000, on Domain’s list of 40 very affordable places in December 2021.
Everything else was in a regional area, including the Cairns suburb of Manoora where the mid-point unit price was $183,000.
A three-bedroom house in Woodridge is on the market for $450,000.
Borrowers on an average full-time salary of $90,917 could still buy a house in an outer suburb of Brisbane without being in mortgage stress.
With a 20 per cent deposit, someone with a $360,000 loan would have a debt-to-income ratio of four.
That is well below the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s threshold of six, where a borrower would struggle to repay their mortgage.
It is still affordable even though greater Brisbane’s mid-point house price last year rose by 31.6 per cent to $765,000.
Canberra’s equivalent mid-point rose by 32.8 per cent to $1.05 million as Hobart’s house price rose by 30.5 per cent to $745,000.
In Adelaide, house prices rose by 27.2 per cent to $647,300 as Melbourne values rose by 23 per cent to $995,000.
A three-bedroom house at Woodridge is on the market for $450,000
Perth’s increase was more subdued with prices rising by 16.5 per cent to $560,000 as Darwin’s median house prices rose by 13.3 per cent to $590,000.
Headline inflation at 3.5 per cent is well above the Reserve Bank of Australia’s two to three per cent target, and the Commonwealth Bank is forecasting a June rate rise from a record-low of 0.1 per cent.
This would mark the first rate rise since November 2010 after the Global Financial Crisis.
The Reserve Bank of Australia’s March meeting minutes noted the Russian invasion of Ukraine was likely to keep inflation at high levels, with average capital city petrol prices now above the $2 a litre mark.
‘The war in Ukraine and the associated increase in energy prices had created additional uncertainty about the inflation outlook,’ it said.
‘Members noted headline inflation would increase by more than underlying inflation in the near term because of the effect of global developments on petrol prices.’
The RBA governor last week said a 2022 rate rise was now ‘plausible’, but the central bank tried to downplay the prospect of an immediate rate rise in coming months.
‘The board is prepared to be patient as it monitors how the various factors affecting inflation in Australia evolve,’ it said on Tuesday.
In Sydney, the median established house price last year surged by 32.9 per cent to $1.3 million, Australian Bureau of Statistics data showed (pictured is a house at Toongabbie in the western suburbs on the market for more than $1.35 million)