More suburbs set to join Australia's million-dollar house club

New data from national real estate chain Ray White shows that Australia will soon have 1,000 suburbs where average house prices are at least $1 million.

“Australia now has 923 suburbs with a geometric mean house price of at least $1 million, and a further 78 expected to join this exclusive club within the next 12 months,” says Ray White Senior Data Analyst, Atom Go Tian.

By 2026, he says Australia is expected to have over 1,000 suburbs where houses cost at least seven figures.

The details

Sydney currently has the most suburbs in this exclusive club, with 322 - expected to reach 336 next year.

Atom Go Tian says the 14 new suburbs expected to join the list “tell the story of Australia's most expensive housing market running out of affordable options.” 

“With the city's geometric mean house price already at $1.6 million, the new million-dollar suburbs represent the final pockets of relative affordability - mostly clustered in outer growth areas like Currans Hill in Camden ($995,000) and Hassall Grove-Plumpton in Blacktown ($989,000), alongside several Campbelltown suburbs,” he says.

“Even these "affordable" areas are tracking towards $1.02-1.04 million.”

While Melbourne currently holds second place with 165, the southern city has seen muted growth over the past three years and Ray White expects no new suburbs will join the $1 million house club over the next year.

Meanwhile, Brisbane is catching up fast with Melbourne, with 17 new suburbs expected to cross the $1 million price threshold by next year.

On Neoval figures, the Queensland capital is experiencing sustained 8-9% annual growth, and some of the candidates to join the $1 million house club aren’t necessarily close to the CBD.

“Eagle Farm-Pinkenba leads at $978,000 with 9.9%, while the expansion spans from Algester in the south ($991,000) to Karana Downs in Ipswich ($983,000), Mango Hill in Moreton Bay South ($978,000), and Riverhills in the west ($976,000),” Atom Go Tian explains. 

Adelaide's 11 new predicted $1 million suburbs show a similar pattern of expansion from the already-expensive Central and Hills region. 

Bellevue Heights ($997,000), Willunga ($998,000), and Coromandel Valley ($981,000) in Adelaide’s south are set to be joined by Plympton ($995,000) and Flinders Park ($991,000) in the city’s west, all showing steady 7-8% growth rates.

However, Ray White data analyst Atom Go Tian says Perth has emerged as the star of Australia's current housing boom, with 22 of the 78 new million-dollar suburbs. 

“This remarkable showing reflects the city's position as having the strongest house price growth over the past three years, with suburbs showing annual growth rates between 11-14%,” he says. 

“The Perth story is one of outward expansion.

“All of the city's inner suburbs now sit above $1 million, pushing growth into previously more affordable areas,” he says.

Atom Go Tian says Roleystone is the most likely candidate to cross the $1 million threshold, with current average house prices at $992,000 and 13% annual growth, which would equate to $1.12 million within 12 months.

Bayswater-Embleton-Bedford ($967,000), Padbury ($969,000), Serpentine-Jarrahdale ($972,000), and Tuart Hill-Joondanna ($958,000) are all positioned to exceed $1.08 million over the next year. 

Atom Go Tian says that after Sydney, Canberra has Australia's second-highest concentration of million-dollar suburbs. 

However, he says the ACT’s muted price growth over recent years means only three suburbs will join the $1 million house club: Gungahlin ($998,000), Palmerston ($984,000), and Holder ($990,000) should edge across the threshold with minimal annual growth rates of just 1-2%. 

Looking beyond the big cities, regional areas are also performing strongly. 

Atom Go Tian says Queensland's growth corridors lead the charge - Meridan Plains on the Sunshine Coast ($994,000), Middle Ridge in Toowoomba ($977,000), and Coomera on the Gold Coast ($959,000).

Regional Queensland already has the most number of $1 million-plus house suburbs, buoyed by the presence of the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast.

Also worth noting are a number of locations in regional WA set to bypass the $1 million mark, including Margaret River (currently $951,000). 

Atom Go Tian says Gelorup-Stratham in Bunbury also stands out with current prices at $953,000 and 12% growth, demonstrating that Perth's housing boom extends well beyond the city’s metropolitan boundaries.

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Methodology

Atom Go Tian says he’s used geometric mean prices (provided by Ray White’s in-house data service Neoval) for his analysis instead of median prices, as the geometric mean formula “better handles Australia's wider price variations within suburbs and reduces the impact of extremely high-value sales that could skew results.”

To arrive at future million-dollar suburb predictions, he and his team calculated the year-on-year growth rate for suburbs for each of the last three years.

They then took the average of these growth rates to determine a typical annual price increase for each area. 

“Using this average growth rate, we projected what house prices will be in 2026,” he says.

To ensure reliable predictions, the Ray White data analyst says they only included suburbs with sufficient sales activity.

“This approach assumes that recent price growth patterns will continue and represents a refinement from previous analyses that used longer historical periods, as focusing on the past three years better captures current market conditions while smoothing out short-term volatility,” he says.