Perth Joins Million-Dollar Club After Fastest House Price Surge

Perth has become the sixth capital city to join Australia’s million-dollar house price club, according to figures released today by Domain.

Domain’s chief of research and economics Nicola Powell said detached dwelling prices in Perth surged 9.9 per cent, or an average of $97,727, over the December 2025 quarter to a record median price of $1.09 million.

Powell said this pushed the city past the average $1-million house threshold for the first time and into the million-dollar club alongside Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane and Adelaide.

“Demand in Perth is real,” Powell told The Urban Developer.

“But the depth of that demand reflects an acute undersupply, and the growth is at the entry to mid-priced end.

“For developers, the price-point and product mix will be really important; products that overshoot on price will struggle for a market.”

Powell said Perth’s median house price could overtake Adelaide’s and Melbourne’s as early as this calendar year.

The Perth result was the strongest quarterly rise for detached dwellings of any capital city and the western metropolis’s largest quarterly increase since 2006.

Perth’s detached home prices have now risen for 13 consecutive quarters—the longest uninterrupted upswing since 2000-07—with quarterly growth about three times higher than the previous quarter and at the same time last year.

As a result, annual growth has accelerated to 18.4 per cent ($168,860), confirming Perth’s position as one of the fastest-moving housing markets in the nation.

Meanwhile, commencements of detached and multi-unit homes combined across WA increased more than in any other state over the September 2025 quarter, ABS figures released yesterday show.

Commencements in WA leapt 30.2 per cent compared to South Australia’s 26.3 per cent and Queensland’s 11.9 per cent. The only jurisdiction to top those three states was the Northern Territory where dwelling starts jumped 42.2 per cent off a low base of 384 homes to 546 homes.

Housing Industry Association Senior Economist Maurice Tapang said most of the WA growth was down to the detached house rather than multi-unit sub-sector.

“For developers in WA, detached dwellings are looking fine,” Tapang said.

“But apartments are a curious [sub-]sector because WA does not have the same apartment capacity as the east coast.

“The biggest problem for supply in WA is the cost and availability of labour.”

Meanwhile, Melbourne has cemented its move back into the black with a 2.9 per cent increase in house prices to reach $1.1 million median house price. 

It is the first time the capital city has posted a new record in four years. 

The annual growth is now at 7.4 per cent according to Domain data, which Powell said demonstrated the city had clearly re-entered a sustained growth phase. 

Brisbane also continues to surge with house prices climbing 4.5 per cent, while apartments jumped 8.1 per cent to a median price of $770,471.