Yahoo Finance Aussie newspaper from 1980s exposes $500k property boom
In 1988, an average Toowoomba house cost less than $70,000.
A newspaper from 1988 has laid bare just how much property prices have skyrocketed in Australia.
One Aussie took to social media this week to share the unearthed article, which compared the most and least expensive suburbs in Toowoomba, Queensland.
In 1988, more than three decades ago, the average price of a house in Toowoomba was just $65,785.
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The most expensive suburb was Rangeville, with an average price of $85,274, while the cheapest suburb was North Toowoomba, with an average price of $48,187.
Fast forward to 2023 and the median house price in Toowoomba is $585,025, according to CoreLogic’s most recent Regional Market Update.
That means prices have increased more than eight times in three-and-a-half decades, not accounting for inflation. Adjusted for inflation, $65,785 is about $168,246 in 2022 dollars.
It’s also worth noting that home loan rates were much higher back then compared to today. According to historical RBA data, at the start of 1988, variable home loan rates were a staggering 14 per cent. They then dipped slightly to 13.5 per cent, before reaching a peak of 17 per cent in June 1989.
Today, home loan borrowers are looking at an average variable rate of 6.68 per cent, according to Canstar, based on owner-occupiers paying principal and interest.
What about the rest of Australia?
So, how does the rest of the nation compare? Well, in Sydney, the median house price was just $141,000 in 1988. Now, according to CoreLogic’ latest Home Value Index, that has skyrocketed to $1,359.936.
In Melbourne, house prices were $109,000, on average, in 1988. Today, they are $925,374, on average.
Brisbane has also seen house prices balloon, increasing from $71,000 in 1988, to sit at $832,247 today.
House prices in Adelaide have gone from $80,400 to $733,501, in Perth from $78,000 to $634,169 and in Hobart from $67,950 to $700,629.
Darwin house prices have increased from $86,000 to $585,014, and Canberra from $101,250 to $953,166.
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