{"id":443119,"date":"2026-02-01T16:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T16:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/443119\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T16:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T16:42:11","slug":"1-million-house-club-grows-as-values-rise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/443119\/","title":{"rendered":"$1 million house club grows as values rise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Shane<\/p>\n

February 2, 2026 \u2014 12:01am<\/p>\n

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Australia\u2019s housing affordability crisis is showing no signs of abating as the median house price in four capital cities lifts to more than $1 million for the first time.<\/p>\n

Cotality figures from January show a 0.8 per cent lift in house values across the country, driven by a sharp drop in the volume of properties for sale and an increase in the number of people entering the property market to escape high rents.<\/p>\n

The 0.8 per cent rise \u2013 which followed a 0.6 per cent increase nationally in December \u2013 pushed Perth into the $1 million club, where it joins Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe median house value has climbed above $1 million in four capital cities for the first time.Dion Georgopoulos<\/p>\n

After dipping in December, house values in our two biggest cities went up last month: Sydney by 0.3 per cent and Melbourne by 0.2 per cent. Sydney\u2019s median house value is now almost $1.6 million and in Melbourne the figure is $989,356.<\/p>\n

The figures come ahead of the Reserve Bank\u2019s monetary policy committee meeting that starts on Monday. Financial markets put the chance of a rate rise on Tuesday at 70 per cent.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Treasurer<\/a><\/p>\n

Values in Melbourne and Sydney are growing much more slowly than in smaller capitals. Perth\u2019s median house value rose by another 1.9 per cent in December, taking it beyond the $1 million mark. Over the past year, Perth\u2019s median house value has climbed by 18.4 per cent.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a similar story in Brisbane, where the median house value reached a record $1.15 million in January, a 15.1 per cent increase over the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

Adelaide\u2019s median value lifted by 1.3 per cent to an all-time high of $972,435. In Canberra, the median value moved up by 0.5 per cent to $1.03 million.<\/p>\n

A key factor is a shortage of homes on the market. Cotality estimates the number of homes advertised for sale is 19 per cent down on the same period last month.<\/p>\n

Cotality research director Tim Lawless said while values were climbing, momentum for further increases would ebb due to the prospect of higher interest rates and the unaffordability of many homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the most unaffordable conditions on record in many cities, along with a rebound in cost of living pressures and prospect of a rate hike as early as this Tuesday, we are still seeing a broad-based rise in housing values,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ongoing capital gains reflect persistently low inventory in the face of above-average housing demand. However, we are likely to see demand-side pressures gradually ease in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability and serviceability constraints are likely to naturally dampen demand, but also renewed cost of living pressures and a strong chance that interest rates will rise. There is also slowing population growth to consider.\u201d<\/p>\n

Housing affordability continues to plague the Albanese government despite efforts to lift the number of homes being built across the country. At the weekend, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a $668 million housing package that included $300 million in water infrastructure to support 4000 new homes in Adelaide\u2019s northern suburbs.<\/p>\n

That was after Treasurer Jim Chalmers told economics Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz in an interview for The Monthly magazine that the cost of housing was a \u201cdefining part\u201d of the intergenerational challenge facing the country.<\/p>\n

Cotality reported that there had been a slight increase in the national rental vacancy rate, which rose marginally to 1.7 per cent last month.<\/p>\n

Lawless said every capital city except Canberra had a vacancy rate below long-term averages. Rents have climbed nationally by more than 42 per cent over the past five years.<\/p>\n

\"TimTim Lawless says strong demand from buyers combined with a sharp decline in supply is putting pressure on the market.Natalie Boog<\/p>\n

Those sharp rent increases have led many renters to try to buy a home, putting pressure on the overall market but particularly at the lower price end.<\/p>\n

Lawless said values for the bottom quarter of the market had lifted by 1.3 per cent in January compared to 0.3 per cent for the top quarter.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Treasurer<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where first home buyers, investors and, progressively, mainstream demand is most concentrated,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In Melbourne, unit values eased by 0.2 per cent in January to be up by 2.7 per cent over the past year to $639,145. Canberra\u2019s median unit value has lifted by just 0.4 per cent since January last year to $592,009.<\/p>\n

The median value of units in Perth has jumped by 20.1 per cent over the past year to $699,814. In Brisbane, it has jumped by 18.3 per cent to $824,764.<\/p>\n

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the question of an interest rate rise on Tuesday was more like a 50-50 chance, given the strength of the Australian dollar and evidence in recent inflation data that underlying price pressures were starting to ease.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there is a 0.25 percentage point hike, we would see it as a case of being one and done,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"ShaneShane Wright<\/a> is a senior economics correspondent for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"February 2, 2026 \u2014 12:01am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":{"0":"post-443119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}