Canberra house prices continue to reach new heights, with houses in Canberra selling under the hammer reaching a new record median, eclipsing $1 million for the first time.
According to new figures from Domain, the national capital experienced its busiest June on record with an auction clearance rate of 86.7% and a median sale price of $1.014 million.
Domain’s senior research analyst Nicola Powell said Canberra house prices at auction have increased 25.9% from last year, and while the number of auctions decreased slightly over the month, they remained “unseasonably high” for the time of the year.
Since Domain’s records began in 1999, five of the eight instances where monthly clearance rates have eclipsed 80% were in 2021.
“Buyers are clearly facing stiff competition at auction given the success of securing a sale at auction,” says Dr Powell.
Local agent and auctioneer, LJ Hooker Kippax’s Jenna Dunley, says more buyers and less available stock, low interest rates allowing people to borrow more, and a bit of desperation to get into the market all could explain the increase.
“We are seeing prices that are quite a bit higher than what we were thinking.
“When we appraise properties, we’re taking our data that can sometimes be two-to-three months old,” she says, which in a rapidly moving market means the data can’t keep up with the growth.
“It’s not a surprise to buyers anymore and [auctions are now] something they’re quite comfortable with.”
Suburb medians on the rise
CoreLogic data released last week reveals 17 Canberra suburbs have entered the ‘million-dollar median club’ in the past 12 months.
Median house prices in the Canberra suburbs of Hughes, Farrer, Curtin, Isaacs, Weetangera, Chapman, Hackett, Pearce, Hawker, Nicholls, Lyneham, Mawson, Dickson, Lyons, Forde, Torrens and Downer all surpassed the $1 million mark between May 2020 and May 2021.
Hughes made the biggest splash, jumping from a median house price of $965,290 to $1,363,733 over the 12-month period.
Ms Dunley says this growth has spread to other areas, too, with million-dollar sales recorded in suburbs like MacGregor and Higgins.
And while owners in these newly-minted million-dollar suburbs might welcome this rise in Canberra’s house prices, CoreLogic’s head of research in Australia, Eliza Owen, says first home buyers are feeling the pinch.
“For first home buyers, who tend to be more price sensitive, higher house prices and the volume of suburbs becoming million-dollar markets are likely building on the challenges already faced by these prospective buyers around home ownership and affordability.
Ms Dunley says with the change in the market, buyers are adjusting their expectations, too. Where the term ‘million-dollar home’ once evoked imagery of flashy mansions, “the reality of it is at the moment a million-dollar home is quite a standard home in Canberra these days”.
Domain data shows 44 scheduled auctions for tomorrow in Canberra.
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