More than one in five homes sold across Australia in the past year attained a sale price of $1 million or more, CoreLogic’s annual Million Dollar Markets report reveals.

To be exact, 23.8 per cent were sold for $1 million or more over the year to March 2022.

In the ACT, house markets (suburbs) cracking their way into the million-dollar club more than doubled in May, from 28 in 2021 to 52 in 2022.

Over the span of 12 months, 62.7 per cent of the ACT’s house markets made the million-dollar list, while no local markets for units were able to reach the threshold.

The portion of million-dollar sales from May 2021 to May 2022 rose from 16 per cent to 28.9 per cent.  

Report author, CoreLogic Research Analyst Kaytlin Ezzy, described Australia’s economic and property performance during the latter part of 2021 as “bullish” and said it has led to the record results of million-dollar sales.

“High consumer sentiment, tight advertised supply, and low interest rates fuelled strong home value growth throughout 2021, resulting in a new record high annual growth rate of 22.4 per cent over the 12 months to January,” Ms Ezzy said.

“Despite values having risen across all capital cities and the rest of state areas annually, we have seen a divergence in growth conditions across markets over the year to date.

“Since January, dwelling values across Sydney and Melbourne have started to decline, while values have continued to rise across South Australia and Queensland. More recently, Canberra, which previously recorded many months of consecutive growth, recorded its first falls in dwelling values in some years in May.”

Nationally in the year to May, an additional 387 markets reached the million-dollar club. A total of 30.4 per cent of house and unit markets in May recorded a median value of $1 million or more.

Although this report may seem grim for first-home buyers attempting to break into the market and renters saving for a deposit, Ms Ezzy said Australia’s housing demand, transactions, and national median values have gradually eased over the recent months.

“As the market moves into the downward phase of the cycle, it’s likely a number of the recent entrants to the million-dollar list will see their median values decline below the $1 million mark,” she said.

“Despite this, Australian household wealth hit record high levels at the end of the March quarter, driven by continued strength in the housing market largely driven by gains across the real estate sector.”

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