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Remember when a Mars bar cost less than $2? Back in 2011, Julia Gillard was prime minister, Justin Bieber was touring Australia and ‘Party Rock Anthem’ was dominating the charts. House prices looked pretty different, too, with some NSW houses now costing millions of dollars more than they did 15 years ago.
According to the latest ABS figures, Australia’s property market is now worth a staggering $12.7 trillion, almost triple its $4.4 trillion value in 2011. And new data from realestate.com.au has revealed the suburbs where house prices have grown the most over that period, with NSW claiming four spots in the national top ten.
Leading the pack is Pokolbin, in the Hunter Valley, where the median house price has jumped by 417 per cent since 2011. Homes in the wine region now sell for a median of $1.63 million, up from just $315,000 15 years ago. That’s an increase of more than $1.3 million.
Closer to Sydney, Jordan Springs in the city’s west has recorded the second-highest house price growth in Australia, with its median climbing 373 per cent from $239,000 to $1.13 million.
Further north, the famous beach town of Byron Bay has also experienced a huge property boom. The coastal town’s median house price has risen 321 per cent, from $680,000 in 2011 to $2.86 million today. It’s a striking example of how Australia’s appetite for coastal living has pushed property prices sky-high over the past decade and a half.
Meanwhile, Boolaroo, near Lake Macquarie, rounds out NSW’s top performers. The suburb’s median house price has increased by 311 per cent, rising from $281,000 to $1.16 million since 2011.
NSW and Queensland dominated the national rankings, accounting for eight of the ten suburbs with the biggest increases. The data reflects a broader shift towards regional and coastal living, fuelled in part by the pandemic, flexible working arrangements and younger Aussies searching for alternatives to increasingly expensive capital cities. We hear you.
Of course, a booming property market is good news for homeowners who bought in early, but a pretty different story for anyone hoping to get onto the property ladder today.
Want to see how much house prices have changed in your suburb? You can explore the figures using realestate.com.au’s interactive tool here.
The NSW suburbs where house prices have grown the most since 2011
Pokolbin, Hunter Valley: up 417 per cent, from $315,000 to $1.63 million.
Jordan Springs, Western Sydney: up 373 per cent, from $239,000 to $1.13 million.
Byron Bay, Northern NSW: up 321 per cent, from $680,000 to $2.86 million.
Boolaroo, Lake Macquarie: up 311 per cent, from $281,000 to $1.16 million.
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