Million dollar sales becoming more common

An increase in dwelling values over 2018 resulted in a reduction in sales at lower price points with million dollar plus property transactions having become much more commonplace.

Over the 2018 calendar year, the share of sales across the six price points highlighted nationally were: 6.1% under $200,000, 24.8% between $200,000 and $400,000, 28.0% between $400,000 and $600,000, 18.7% between $600,000 and $800,000, 8.7% between $800,000 and $1 million and 13.8% at or above $1 million. 

The most prominent price point for sales was $400,000 to $600,000, while there were more sales of at least $1 million than there were below $200,000 or between $800,000 and $1 million.

The share of sales annually by price point over each five-year period from 1993 to 2018 shows how an overwhelming majority of sales occurred below $200,000 in 1993, compared to virtually no sales below $200,000 in 2018.

Over time, there has been a steady climb in the share of sales across the more expensive price points. 

Across the combined capital cities, sales below $200,000 accounted for just 1.8% of all sales, while sales of $1 million properties accounted for 19.5% of all sales.

The dominant price point for sales over the year was $400,000 to $600,000 (28.3%).

The chart clearly highlights the rising prevalence of $1 million sales while supply of stock under $200,000 has reduced substantially.

Sales of properties under $200,000 in regional Australia accounted for 12.9% of all sales over the year, the third largest price point for sales.

The $200,000 to $400,000 price bracket accounted for the largest share of sales over the year (38.1%). Sales of $1 million properties in regional Australia (4.7%) are much less common than they are across the capital cities.

Over the 2018 calendar year, there were virtually no sales under $200,000 in Sydney.

By comparison, 37.0% of all sales were at or in excess of $1 million, which made up the largest cohort of sales. 

A decade earlier, $1 million sales accounted for 8.9% of all sales, highlighting the increasing prevalence of million dollar sales in the city over the decade.

30.7% of all dwelling sales in regional NSW in 2018 were between $400,000 and $600,000 closely followed by 30.3% of sales between $200,000 and $400,000.

Sales of million dollar properties had the smallest share of all sales accounting for 6.3% while 9.6% of sales were less than $200,000.

Like Sydney, virtually nothing sold for under $200,000 in Melbourne throughout 2018.

The greatest share of sales occurred between $400,000 and $600,000 (30.4%) and $600,000 and $800,000 (27.1%). 21.7% of all sales were at least $1 million, up from 5.4% a decade earlier.

A decade ago, 51.2% of all sales were between $200,000 and $400,000 compared to just 7.2% last year.

In regional Vic, sales of properties priced between $200,000 and $400,000 were most prevalent over the year (46.7%).

$1 million sales accounted for just 2.2% of transactions, the smallest share of any price point over the past year.

The greatest share of property sales in Brisbane during 2018 occurred at a price between $400,000 and $600,000 (35.6%) followed by $200,000 to $400,000 (28.7%).

Over the year, just 1.7% of sales were below $200,000 compared to 7.8% at or in excess of $1 million.

In regional Qld, there were more sales under $200,000 (9.6%) than there were both five (8.1%) and 10 (7.9%) years ago. 

Sales of properties priced between $200,000 and $400,000 accounted for the greatest share of sales (36.6%) followed by $400,000 to $600,000 (29.0%).

While a greater share of sales occurred under $200,000 there has also been an increase in $1 million sales, accounting for 6.0% and up from 2.7% of sales five years earlier.

Most properties sold in Adelaide during 2018 sold for between $200,000 and $400,000 (37.5%), closely followed by $400,000 to $600,000 (33.1%).

Interestingly, there was a greater share of sales under $200,000 in 2018 (5.3%) than there were in 2013 (4.5%). Similarly, $1 million sales increased their share from 2.4% in 2013 to 5.1% in 2018.

In regional SA, just 5.0% of all sales in 2018 occurred at prices above $600,000.

By comparison, 32.2% of all sales were under $200,000 and 49.2% were priced between $200,000 and $400,000 with the two accounting for 81.4% of all sales compared to 85.3% five years earlier.

Perth dwelling values have been falling for most of the past five years. 

Despite these falls, the share of sales of $million properties has increased from 7.8% to 9.3%.

While $million sales have increased as a share over the past five years, so too have sales priced between $200,000 and $400,000, increasing from 24.5% five years ago to 30.7%.

There has also been a slight increase in sales under $200,000 (2.2% to 3.3%).

43.4% of all sales in regional WA in 2018 were priced between $200,000 and $400,000 in 2018 while a further 24.7% were priced below $200,000 resulting in 68.1% of sales under $400,000.

Five years earlier a much lower 57.8% of sales were under $400,000.

With strong value growth over recent years, over the 2018 calendar year 43.8% of all sales in Hobart were under $400,000 compared to 68.8% five years earlier.

Million dollar sales accounted for 3.8% of all sales in 2018, up from 1.4% five years earlier.

In regional Tas housing is quite affordable and most sales occur across lower price points with 77.6% of all sales in 2018 priced below $400,000.

Property sales over $600,000 accounted for 5.1% of all sales in 2018, up from just 2.2% five years earlier.

Just 30.8% of all sales in Darwin throughout 2013 were under $400,000. 

With most of the past five years having seen dwelling values fall, a greater 41.3% of all sales in 2018 were under $400,000.

The share of million dollar sales has reduced over the past five years from 2.8% to 2.2%.

The greatest share of sales in regional NT occurred between $400,000 and $600,000 (39.0%) while $800,000 to $1 million accounted for the fewest sales (0.9%).

Five years earlier, the greatest share of sales were occurring between $200,000 and $400,000 (48.0%).

The greatest share of property sales in Canberra occurred between $400,000 and $600,000 in 2018 (36.7%) while five years earlier the largest price point for sales was also $400,000 to $600,000 accounting for 45.5% of all sales.

There has been a particularly large increase in the share of $million sales over the past five years, up to 8.8% of all sales from 2.8%.

The clear shift over the past five years has been towards a greater share of sales at higher price points. 

While you’d expect this in the markets that have seen strong value growth such as Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, we have also seen it across markets where value growth has been much weaker.

Values are currently declining fastest across the more expensive properties and over the coming year we would expect to see the share of sales over $1 million to reduce as values continue to fall.

As a result, we’d also expect slightly more sales occurring at lower price points, we don’t expect any material change in the share of sales under $200,000, in fact they may reduce further.

About Cameron Kusher Cameron Kusher is Corelogic RP Data’s senior research analyst. Cameron has a thorough understanding of the fundamentals such as demographics, trends & economics. Visit www.corelogic.com.au