MARIKA DOBBIN AND KATE ROBERTSON
November 28, 2009
MELBOURNE house prices could double to hit a median of $1 million in a decade, according to the Real Estate Institute of Victoria.
REIV chief executive Enzo Raimondo said population growth and a shortage of housing stock would make million-dollar homes the norm.
”What we have seen in the last 20 years is the doubling of the median every 10 years,” he said.
”There has been such growth it wouldn’t be unrealistic to see a median in Melbourne of around $1 million. You have another million people moving into Melbourne in the next 10 years, which is going to put additional pressure on a fairly stretched marketplace.”
Melbourne’s median house price, the midpoint between the highest and lowest sales, reached a record $480,000 in September. And for the first time, there were 18 mostly eastern and bayside suburbs that recorded a median of $1 million or more.
Mr Raimondo’s comments come as a late surge of auction listings ensures the market, in which stock levels have been down compared with previous years, finishes with a flurry. More than 1000 auctions are scheduled for this weekend, the highest number since mid-April last year.
About 1000 are also scheduled for the two following weekends before the market winds down for Christmas.
With some blistering sales in the top end this fortnight – including a record price of almost $21 million for a Hawthorn mansion – the suburb with the most auctions is Toorak, with 18 houses listed.
Buyers advocate Mal James said a million dollars now bought an average single-fronted house in the inner east or south-east and an average double-fronted house in the inner north and west. In the middle and outer suburbs, it ‘’still buys a pretty substantial house”.
”A million dollars is still a big deal and a barrier for some people,” he said. ”There’s a lot of property sold in the high $900,000s because buyers are just too nervous. But it’s a big deal that more and more people are getting used to.”
Victorian Council of Social Service chief executive Cath Smith said the gap between wages growth and house prices was widening, making it increasingly hard to buy a house.
