Houses v units: price growth gap continues to narrow

Narrowing Price Growth Gap Signals Changing Real Estate Market Trends

Buyers are steadily shifting their attention from houses to units.

In April, median prices rose 10.4% in annual terms for units and 18.6% for houses, according to CoreLogic – a difference of 8.2 percentage points.

houses
While that gap is large, it’s not as large as it was in January, when prices rose 14.3% for units and 24.8% for houses – a difference of 10.5 percentage points.

By the end of April, Australia’s median house price had reached $819,000. For some buyers, that is just too high. By contrast, the median unit price, while still high, is just $620,000.

As property prices continue to rise, it’s likely more buyers will shift from houses to units, which would lead to a further narrowing in the price growth differential. It’s even possible that, at some point, unit price growth will overtake house price growth.

Credit: Active Pipe