Home values in Sydney, Australia, are now more than double what they were in the beginning of 2009, with median prices reaching A$795,000 (US$610,000) in February, according to a report released Wednesday.
Home prices in Australia’s largest city grew 18.4% year-over-year, the fastest annual pace since 2002, when the housing boom of the early 2000’s started to slow, according to the monthly Hedonic Home Value Index by CoreLogic, the largest property service provider in Australia and New Zealand.
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In February, Melbourne’s median home prices rose 13.1% year-over-year to A$610,000 (US$468,000), which is 87.7% higher than eight years ago.
Compared with January, median home prices in Sydney and Melbourne rose 2.6% and 1.5% respectively.
In all eight capital cities combined, the median home price increased 11.7% over the last 12 months.
| Snapshot of Australian Markets in February 2017 | |||
| Region | Median home price | M-o-M | Y-o-Y |
| Sydney | A$795,000 | 2.6% | 18.4% |
| Melbourne | A$610,000 | 1.5% | 13.1% |
| Brisbane | A$485,000 | -0.4% | 2.2% |
| Adelaide | A$435,000 | 0.6% | 3.5% |
| Perth | A$477,000 | -2.4% | -4.5% |
| Hobart | A$374,000 | 1.0% | 5.8% |
| Darwin | A$499,500 | -4.3% | -5.3% |
| Canberra | A$575,500 | 3.2% | 10.4% |
| Combined capitals | A$570,000 | 1.4% | 11.7% |
| Source: CoreLogic |
"The annual growth rate across the combined capitals hasn’t been this strong since the 12 months ending June 2010," Tim Lawless, research director at CoreLogic, said in the report.
For Sydney, the continued price surge is great news homeowners, but a headache for prospective buyers, he noted.
"The strong growth conditions across Sydney have provided a substantial wealth boost for homeowners," Mr. Lawless said. "However, the flipside is that housing costs are becoming increasingly out of reach. This is especially true for price-sensitive segments of the market such as first time buyers and low income families."
Separately, a Knight Frank report released Wednesday shows that Sydney and Melbourne are among the top cities for those with a net worth of at least $30 million, ranking 11th and 20th respectively in the City Wealth Index.
Write to Fang Block at fang.block@dowjones.com