Australia’s housing market has seen national home values surge 39.1% over the past five years, adding approximately $230,000 to the median dwelling value, according to CoreLogic's April Housing Chart Pack.
While significant, looking at historical data reveals that the latest five-year growth figure remains well below the historic peaks recorded in the early 2000s and late 1980s.
Kaytlin Ezzy, Economist for CoreLogic, soon rebranding to Cotality, said the 39.1% growth in values seen over the past five years reflects strong underlying housing demand, tight supply and a relatively resilient economy.
“Outside of a few short months of declines, values have seen strong upward pressure over the past five years, driven by low stock levels and increased demand,” Ms. Ezzy said.
“But this growth cycle remains moderate compared to earlier periods, when financial deregulation, strong economic growth and favourable demographic shifts helped fuel remarkable value growth.”
CoreLogic's April chart of the month shows national values jumped an impressive 75.5% over the five years to March 1989, and a record 79.7% in the five years to December 2003.
Ms Ezzy says population growth, the deregulation of financial markets, and declining interest rates following the 1982-83 recession all helped boost housing demand in the late 80s, putting upward pressure on values.
“Additionally, the introduction of capital gains taxes in 1985, with an exemption for primary residences, drove an increase in owner-occupier demand,” she added.
Similar to the 1980s, the record growth seen over five years to December 2003, was driven by a low-interest rate environment, along with strong economic growth following the Asian Financial Crisis and the start of the 2000s mining boom.
“Changes to capital gains taxes benefiting investors, and the introduction of first-home buyer grants, also helped stimulate housing demand in the 2000s”
Although the increase seen over the past five years is relatively mild in percentage terms, in dollar terms, the recent rise far outperforms the historic peaks.
“While around half the increases seen during the previous peaks, when adjusted to the current median value, the rise seen over the past five years is equivalent to a roughly $230,000 increase.”
By comparison, the dollar rise seen over the five years to December 2003 was roughly $90,000 less, at $140,000, while the March 1989 increase was equivalent to around a $60,000 increase in the median.”
Across the capitals
While the historic trend in five-year growth follows a similar shape across the capitals, the timing of each city’s peak in five-year growth varies.
The strongest rolling five-year rise in Sydney values was recorded in the late 1980s (80.7%), narrowly beating out the 78.3% increase recorded over the five years to November 2003. Similar lifts were seen in Melbourne, with the almost doubling of values in the 80s (98.8%) outperforming the 79.5% rise from the early 2000s.
Meanwhile, cities such as Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart and Canberra experienced their largest five-year gains through the mid-2000s, with values across these markets roughly doubling over the period.
Perth’s peak of 137.8% recorded over the five years to September 2006 was the largest among the capitals and was nearly double the 75.2% rise seen in the city over the most recent five-year period.
“Strong economic condition and positive interstate migration amid the 2000’s mining boom, saw housing values in the western capital skyrocket before falling though much of the 2010’s.”
“Brisbane also benefited from a demand driven surge in the early 2000’s, with strong interstate migration driving population growth, while the relatively affordable price points and broader positive economic environment helped housing values in Hobart and Adelaide boom.”
Highlights from the April 2025 Housing Chart Pack include:
- CoreLogic estimates the combined value of residential real estate rose to $11.3 trillion in March.
- National home values rose 0.7% over the rolling quarter, with the capitals up 0.5% and the regions up 1.4%.
- CoreLogic estimates there were 42,553 sales nationally in March, taking the rolling 12-month count to 528,212. While -2.1% below the recent peak record in December (539,743), the annual measure is up 4.6% compared to last year, and 4.1% above the previous five-year average.
- Properties are staying on the market longer, with the national median time to sell increasing from 30 days a year ago to 40 days in Q1 2025.
- After expanding through the second half of 2024 and into 2025, median vendor discounting rates tightened slightly over the three months to March to -3.5%.
- The rolling 12-month change in national rental values has continued to lose momentum, with rents up 3.8% over the year to March. The lowest annual change in rents in four years, this month's reading is just 1.8 percentage points above the pre-COVID decade average of 2.0%.
Download a complete copy of CoreLogic Australia’s April Chart Pack online.
CoreLogic Australia