House prices took more than 15 years to double

HOUSE prices have doubled in less than ten years in Sydney and Hobart but it’s taken a lot longer to reach the milestone elsewhere in Australia.

It’s often said seven to 10 years is needed for property values to double but new PropTrack analysis shows it took the median house price 15.4 years through to May 2023.

It required even longer for units, around 17.8 years.

It’s taken just 6.8 years for house prices to increase twofold in Tasmania’s capital city and 7.8 years for units.

In Sydney, it was 9.6 years and 17.3 years.

House values in some regional areas grew to twice their previous worth in less than 10 years, including regional Tasmania, Victoria and NSW.

PropTrack director economic research Cameron Kusher said the findings showed few markets were observing doubling values even after the big upswing at the beginning of the pandemic.

“This highlights that as the cost of housing has increased, the percentage gains in prices have reduced,” he said.

Mr Kusher said sluggish wage growth was keeping a lid on prices, especially when compared to earlier decades when women entered the workforce in large numbers and made dual incomes more common.

He also said macroprudential policies, such as serviceability buffers, have also tightened up access to finance in recent years and kept price growth contained.

“Rising interest rates and much higher prices, along with other economic and demographic factors, will weigh on the prospects of prices doubling in the future,” Mr Kusher said.

– POPPY JOHNSTON/ AAP