Brisbane leads surge in million-dollar suburbs

Million-dollar homes are increasingly commonplace in Australia, with new research showing roughly one in every three suburbs pack a median seven-figure price tag.

According to a new paper by Cotality, 195 suburbs have jumped into the exclusive club after strong housing market gains over the last  12 months.

Thirty per cent of all sales in the last year were for $1 million or more.

The research looks at thousands of suburbs nationwide split into 4844 markets - 3514 of houses and 1330 of units - pulling out the median values.

Sydney most expensive, Brisbane rising fast

With a median dwelling price of $1.24m, Sydney remains the most expensive capital, with just one in seven suburbs coming with a mid-point house price below $1m.

Cotality economist Kaytlin Ezzy said national dwelling prices were up 46.8 per cent. "A household on the average income of $106,000 with a 20 per cent deposit, would need to dedicate more than 50 per cent of their pre-tax earnings to service a loan on a million-dollar property," she said.

Brisbane had the most suburbs crash through the benchmark figure, with 38 markets (including houses and units) joining a club of 205 to carry a million-dollar pricetag.

There are also 141 markets in regional Queensland with a median above $1 million.

The majority are on the Gold and Sunshine Coasts, but now include four Toowomba suburbs, Castle Hill in Townsville, and Cannon Valley, inland to Airlie Beach.

Strong growth in Perth, regional WA

There are 141 million-dollar markets in Western Australia - including unit prices in three suburbs.

That's fuelled by housing values growing by 83 per cent in Perth and 87 per cent in regional WA over the last five years.

In South Australia, 116 Adelaide housing markets hit the benchmark, with no regional markets or unit prices in any suburbs statewide.

Victoria had some of the softest growth over the last year, with just seven new entries into the seven-figure club for a total number of 207.

Tasmania (with four seven-figure suburbs) and Northern Territory (none) had no new entrants into the million-dollar club. That's despite Darwin, at 12.9 per cent over the last year, leading national dwelling growth, with the beachside suburb of Nightcliff closest, with a median house value of $944,871.

And once again, the bush capital of Canberra has a median house value of above one million - hitting $1.02 million in September.

ACT dwellings are four per cent below their 2022 peak, when house prices last hit the million average.