How Australians can still buy a property in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane for $600k: Here’s what you’ll get in each city

An average income earner with a 20 percent mortgage deposit can still buy a house in a major Australian capital for $600,000.

In Sydney you can buy an apartment near a train station with that money, but in Brisbane and Melbourne it is still possible to buy a house in a waterfront suburb or an apartment in the middle of the city.

Someone buying a $600,000 home would need a down payment of 20 percent of the $120,000 mortgage loan to borrow $480,000 and avoid expensive mortgage insurance from the lender.

A rise in house prices, despite a series of rate hikes by the Reserve Bank, means you have to live at least 25 miles from the city center to get a backyard.

That would mean an hour’s drive to the city center as record high immigration increases demand for housing.

Now that banks can’t lend more than five times a person’s pre-tax income, this is what a full-time worker with an average salary of $95,581 can buy.

Sydney

Sydney, Australia’s most expensive city, has a very unaffordable average house price of $1.395 million.

Apartments are also expensive with a median price of $828,525, which is more expensive than a typical home in Adelaide, Perth, Hobart or Darwin.

But in Riverwood, 25km south-west of Sydney city centre, it is possible to buy an apartment for $600,000.

The average unit price here is also $607,495, CoreLogic data shows, with that kind of money buying something with two bedrooms.

Being on the south side of the M5 motorway it is also slightly more upscale than nearby Punchbowl and Wiley Park.

Unit values ​​in Riverwood increased by 6 per cent in the period to January 2024.

By comparison, the average house price in Sydney rose 12.8 per cent, while apartment values ​​rose 7.7 per cent.

Sydney is almost out of reach for someone looking to buy a house for $600,000, unless they find a house in need of repairs or major renovations.

Shalvey, near Mount Druitt in the west of the city, has an average price of $692,644, following an annual increase of 15.2 per cent.

Brisbane

In Brisbane, the average house price rose 15 per cent to $888,628.

That means someone with a budget of $600,000 should consider a suburb north or south of the city center, and buy something slightly below the middle of the suburb.

Deception Bay, 46 kilometers north of the city, has a median house price of $647,981, after rising 12.7 percent in the past year.

Bellara, a suburb of Bribie Island just further north of Moreton Bay, has an average house price of $640,273, overlooking the Pumicestone Channel.

House prices here have risen by a more modest 5.3 percent in the past year.

The surf beach is just a short drive away on the east side of the island.

For those wanting to be a little closer to the city, Darra, 18 kilometers south-west of Brisbane, has an average house price of $687,219, after rising 15.7 per cent in the past year.

Units in the city center have an average price of $633,304, following an annual increase of 16.3 percent.

Melbourne

Melbourne’s average house price of $942,750 is out of reach for a single earner on an average salary, even though the price rose by less than 4.3 per cent over the year.

But Frankston North, 30 miles south-east of the city, has an average house price of $596,163, after an annual increase of just 3.3 per cent last year.

It is significantly cheaper than neighboring Frankston’s $736,385, which is right on Port Phillip Bay.

For those looking to live closer to the city, Broadmeadows, 22 kilometers north of Melbourne, has an average price of $571,110, after declining 0.3 per cent over the past year.

Melbourne also offers apartments close to the city and the water at an affordable price, with St Kilda West having an average price of $608,792, with prices remaining stable throughout the year.

It is only 8 km by tram from the city.

Could interest rates rise again?

The Reserve Bank left the cash rate unchanged at a twelve-year high of 4.35 percent in February.

Inflation last year moderated to a two-year low of 4.1 percent, but the consumer price index was still well above the RBA’s target of 2 to 3 percent.

But the minutes of that board meeting on February 5 and 6 explained why Governor Michele Bullock had to pass up the possibility of another rate hike.

‘In light of these conclusions, members agreed that it was important that the board’s public statement made it clear that inflation had declined but was still high, and that it was not yet possible to rule out further rate increases to exclude or exclude,” said the spokesperson. minutes said.

‘Members also agreed on the importance of highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the economic outlook and the need to allow monetary policy to be guided by developments in relevant data, the outlook for the economy and evolving risks.’