House prices have changed dramatically in Australia’s capitals from 2010 to 2019. At the beginning of this decade Darwin was in the top two most expensive capital cities to buy in Australia, second only to Sydney. The median price in Darwin was $616,000, about $26,000 less than Sydney.

Perth prices were higher than Adelaide and Brisbane and had a similar median price to Melbourne, just over $550,000. It was also cheaper to buy in Melbourne than Canberra, and interest rates were at 4.5%.

Now, in the later years of the decade, the Australian housing market has flipped. Perth and Darwin are cheap, Melbourne is expensive, and Hobart has become a real estate hot spot. Sydney is still the most expensive city in Australia and now comes with a median house price of more than $1 million. The collapse of the mining boom hit Perth, Darwin, and parts of North Queensland hard. High population and job growth in Melbourne and Sydney along with the falling interest rates contributed to the climbing house prices in both these cities.

I look forward to what the next decade holds and interested to see if by the end of the decade the RBA moves us into negative interest rate territory.