Undoubtedly, Australia’s real estate market has experienced a surge in the last 20 years, making it difficult for a whole generation of prospective buyers to enter the market, and turning Sydney into one of the world’s least affordable property markets. However, Peter Koulizos, a Property Investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) board member, former PIPA chair, and property academic at the University of Adelaide, claims that Hobart, not Sydney or Melbourne, experienced the most capital growth over the last two decades. It is the top capital growth recorded in Tasmanian city.
After analyzing the median price of established house transfers from March 2002 to December 2022, using data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Koulizos discovered that the city that experienced the most capital growth over the past 20 years was the Tasmanian capital, by a significant margin.
Koulizos stated, “Despite a significant proportion of our national population residing in our two largest capital cities, they are not leading the way in terms of long-term property market performance, which is often talked about. My analysis shows that other cities have outperformed them by a significant margin.”
“This demonstrates that smaller cities as well as major regional areas can be viable options for property investment,” Koulizos concluded.
The median house value in Hobart rose significantly from $123,300 in March 2002 to $727,000 in December 2022, representing a 5.9-fold increase.
Adelaide came in second place. The median house value rising from $166,000 to $680,000 over the past two decades, or by 4.1 times, while Canberra took third place with a median house price 4.08 times higher than in 2002, increasing from $245,000 to $999,000.
The cities that follow in terms of capital growth are, in ascending order:
1. Perth: 3.05 times (from $190,000 to $580,000)
2. Darwin: 3.16 times (from $190,000 to $600,000)
3. Sydney: 3.48 times (from $365,000 to $1.27 million)
4. Melbourne: 3.49 times (from $241,000 to $842,000)
5. Brisbane: 4.05 times (from $185,000 to $750,000)
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