The hottest properties

Homes edge out apartments

RISING real estate prices across Australia have reignited a key question for property buyers and owners: do houses or units grow the most?

A new analysis of 30 years of property prices puts houses in front but not by much, with both increasing more than five-fold and making every longterm owner a financial winner.

Median house prices in capital cities climbed an average 453 per cent while units rose 405 per cent, News Corp Australia’s analysis of Real Estate Institute of Australia data found.

Hobart’s property surge in recent years made it the second-fastest growing market since 1990, with houses up 519 per cent from $88,000 to $545,000.

Sydney led the way in house price growth at 565 per cent, from $173,000 to $1.15m between late 1990 and late 2020, while Melbourne took top place in units with price growth of 448 per cent, from $113,500 to $622,500.

Brisbane’s median house price climbed from $106,000 to $539,000, up 408 per cent, but its unit prices lagged with 328 per cent growth.

Adelaide is the only capital city where unit price growth — up 404 per cent to $410,500 — eclipsed house price growth of 371 per cent (from $105,000 to $495,000), although separate new data from CoreLogic shows Adelaide’s house prices outgunning units in the past three months.

Real Estate Institute of Australia president Adrian Kelly said apartments and other units in some areas had been hit by the pandemic’s lack of migration, tourism slump and missing international students but these were “factors that will turn around”.

“The majority of owner occupiers prefer to live in houses, whereas units tend to be preferred by investors, including those from overseas,” he said.

Some property specialists prefer stand-alone houses because it’s the land value that rises over time.