Apartment price growth has outpaced the rate of house price growth for the second quarter of 2024 – the first time this has happened in two years, writes Sue Williams.
It has left apartment prices in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth at record highs, according to the latest Domain House Price Report. They jumped by an incredible 28.2 per cent over the last year in Perth, in Brisbane by 18.1 per cent and in Adelaide by 13.6 per cent.
In Sydney, while house prices fell by $1,300 (-0.1%) over the December quarter to $1.645 million, apartment prices rose by 0.4 per cent or $3,000, to a new record of $812,863.
Price growth remained steady compared to the previous quarter but is slightly slower than the same time the previous year (down by 0.3 per cent), said Domain chief of research & economics Dr Nicola Powell.
“However, the slowdown in unit price growth is much less pronounced than for houses,” she said. “Units have outperformed houses for the second successive quarter, narrowing the price gap between the property types.
“A house now costs 102 per cent more than a unit, still significant but down from the peak of 105 per cent in mid-2024.”
In Melbourne, house prices increased by almost $16,000 (1.6 per cent) over the December quarter to $1,039 million in the first quarterly gain in a year and the largest in three years.
Yet at the same time, apartment prices increased by 2.1 per cent, or almost $12,000 over the December quarter to a median of $577,405 – the strongest quarterly gain in one and a half years and brings unit prices to their highest level in two and a half years.