The high demand for houses amid the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in house prices growing faster than unit values, widening the gap between the two segments, according to the latest report from CoreLogic.
As of the end of June, the median value of houses in the city was $797,2876, higher than the median unit price of $611,117. This represents a 30.5% gap, the highest on record.
Of all cities, Canberra registered the biggest gap at 74.8%. Since the onset of the pandemic, house prices in Canberra have grown more significantly than units, with the former striking a 22.7% growth versus the latter's 8.7% gain.
However, it appears that this wide gap did not only stem from recent demand trends.
"Canberra has seen a very large volume of unit developments over the past decade relative to houses. For the 10 years to March 2021, there was an average 4,593 units under construction each quarter compared to just 841 houses," said Eliza Owen, head of residential research at CoreLogic.
For each house built in Canberra there were 5.5 units constructed over the past decade, substantially higher than the national average of two units for each house.
"This strong uplift in unit supply has left unit price growth relatively subdued," Owen said.
Darwin reported the second-highest gap at 68.5%, followed by Brisbane's 58.2%. Both Sydney and Melbourne also posted a substantial dwelling price gap at 54.2% and 52.4%, respectively. The gap in Adelaide was also elevated at 53.5%
On the other hand, unit and house prices are the closest in Perth and Hobart, which hit respective gaps of 38.9% and 32.3%.
