Rental prices increase at only half that rate
Australian house prices have doubled over the last two decades, while rental prices have grown at half that rate, according to a new report from the Real Estate Institute of Australia.
REIA’s latest Real Estate Market Facts report found that the weighted average median house price for the capital cities rose 103.8% to $1,011,208 between 2002 and 2022.
“The real median house price increased in all capital cities, with increases ranging from 75.4% in Perth to a staggering 269.1% in Hobart,” said REIA president Hayden Groves. “Over the past 10 years, the weighted average median house price for the eight capital cities grew by 56.1%. The highest increase was Sydney (91.7%) and the lowest increase was 33.6% for Adelaide. Both Perth and Darwin had decreases over the past decade, down 10.2% and 18.1%, respectively.”
According to the report, the weighted average median price for other dwellings across the capital cities has grown by 51% over the past two decades.
“Over the past 10 years, the weighted average median other dwelling price for the eight capital cities grew by 19.6%,” Groves said. “Over the decade, the median price for other dwellings increased in Hobart (59.2%), Sydney (34.4%), Melbourne (18.9%), Canberra (14.6%) and Adelaide (12.8%), remained stable in Brisbane and decreased in Perth and Darwin.”
Groves said that since 2002, the median rent for three-bedroom houses in the capital cities had risen 41.4% to $506 per week. The weighted average median rent for two-bedroom other dwellings rose by 39.3% to $474 per week.
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In the past 20 years, there have been 3,390,189 new dwelling completions, the report found. Of these, 63.7% were houses and 36.3% were other residential.
“March 2012 saw the lowest number of new house completions (19,836) and September 2018 had the highest number (33,853),” Groves said. “For other residential, March 2002 saw the lowest number of completions (7,294) and December 2016 had the highest number of new completions (30,328).”
Groves also said that Commonwealth Rent Assistance wasn’t keeping pace with rent increases.
“For a family with two children in 2002, rent assistance met 24.4% of the median rent for a three-bedroom house, whereas in 2022 this had reduced to 16.9%,” he said. “The level of assistance varied across capital cities.”
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