Most media coverage of the residential property market is focused on telling Australians how expensive real estate is and that it’s out of reach for more and more people.
It helps to generate headlines and clicks, but it doesn’t help consumers a great deal.
Even though prices have risen a lot across the country in the past 12 months, there continue to be affordable options in most locations.
While media likes to focus on Sydney and its median house price, now well above $1 million, the reality is that there are plenty of homes at lower prices: 25% of all house sales in Sydney are below $790,000 and 25% of all apartment sales are under $590,000.
In Melbourne, a quarter of house sales are at prices under $640,000 and a quarter of unit sales are below $470,000. In Brisbane, 25% of houses sell for less than $450,000 and a quarter of apartment sales are under $325,000.
It means that if people know where to look, they can find more affordable options. But they’re unlikely to find out about them in our major newspapers and online media outlets.
