Aussie suburbs that dropped out of the million-dollar property club

Hundreds of suburbs have seen their median property values fall below $1 million. (Source: Getty)

Spending $1 million on a home is not unheard of in Australia, but with the cost of living and interest rates rising, some suburbs have fallen out of the exclusive million-dollar club.

Membership to the million-dollar club has become more exclusive thanks to the past 12 interest rate rises, according to CoreLogic’s Million Dollar Market report.

Between April last year and February this year, property values have fallen 9.1 per cent - the fastest decline on record. While national home values have recovered 2.3 per cent over the past three months, they were still 6.9 per cent below the recent peak.

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As of May 2023, just 988 (22.3 per cent) of the 4,436 house and unit markets analysed nationally had a median value at or above $1 million, down from 1,243 last year.

CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy said 237 house markets and 19 unit markets had median values fall below $1 million in the past year.

The only new entrant this year was Burns Beach, a coastal suburb 34 kilometres north of Perth’s CBD.

Sydney had the largest decline in suburbs falling below $1 million, with 78 house and unit markets recording a decline in values to below seven figures.

Ezzy said it was unsurprising to see Sydney top the list.

"While declines across Sydney's more expensive markets were some of the largest across the country, many of these markets had a relatively high starting point, allowing them to retain the seven-figure price tags,” Ezzy said.

“The trend among the suburbs where values have fallen below $1 million is in the more affordable locations on Sydney’s outer mortgage belt and fringe areas. Despite recording smaller declines, it’s these suburbs where median values have dropped below the million-dollar threshold."

Suburbs that fell below $1 million

NSW

Over the year, the number of million-dollar markets on the NSW Central Coast halved from 33 to 17, while house values in 33 suburbs across the South West, Outer South West and Outer West and Blue Mountains regions fell below the $1 million mark.

Regional NSW markets of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie saw 12 suburbs drop out of the list, Illawarra was down five and the Southern Highlands and Shoalhaven lost seven.

Queensland

A similar pattern was seen in Brisbane, with 41 suburbs falling below the $1 million mark, and across some of regional Queensland’s commutable lifestyle markets, including the Sunshine Coast (down 13) and Gold Coast (down 10).

Victoria and the ACT

With Melbourne and Canberra dwelling values falling 9.3 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively, over the 12 months to May, the portion of house and unit markets with a median value of $1 million or higher fell to around 30 per cent in May, down from 35.4 per cent and 41.5 per cent, respectively, from the same time in 2022.

Those markets to fall below $1 million in regional Victoria included the popular tourist and lifestyle towns of Daylesford, near Hepburn Springs and Portarlington on the Bellarine Peninsula.

Tasmania and SA

Hobart saw six house markets fall out of the million-dollar club, leaving just two suburbs, Sandy Bay ($1,243,407) and Tranmere ($1,023,062) with a median house value over $1 million.

House values in four suburbs across Adelaide dipped below seven figures, despite the city recording a mild 0.4 per cent increase in dwelling values over the year.

WA

The number of million-dollar markets across Perth held steady, with houses in Burns Beach ($1,033,741) in the city’s North West being the sole new entrant to the million-dollar club, while houses in Shelley ($998,499) in the city’s South East left the club.

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