Cheap homes rising in value faster than prestige homes
Buyers are prioritising affordability amid high interest rates
2 min
Cheaper homes in the lower price quartile of market are growing in value at a faster pace than homes in the upper quartile, according to new CoreLogic figures.
Research director Tim Lawless said the upper quartile typically leads housing market cycles into their upswings and downturns. This occurred in 2023 when higher priced homes outperformed for the first seven months of the year as the market rebounded from its 2022 slump, which was caused by rising interest rates from May.
Then price growth among expensive homes slowed down, and cheaper properties began appreciating at a faster pace through the second half of the year, and now into 2024. Mr Lawless said the lower quartile in every capital city property market recorded superior growth to the upper quartile over the past three months.
At a national level, lower priced homes grew by 2.4 percent, middle priced homes appreciated 1.7 percent and upper quartile properties rose 0.6 percent. The market’s lower quartile is defined as homes within the bottom 25 percent of values, the middle quartile represents 50 percent of the market with medium–range prices, and the upper quartile is the most expensive 25 percent of homes.
“This trend is most evident in Sydney, Melbourne and, to a lesser extent Brisbane, where upper quartile values clearly led the 2023 upswing through the first half of the year,” Mr Lawless said. “The trend hasn’t been evident in Perth or Adelaide where lower quartile home values have consistently recorded a faster pace of capital gains through 2023 and the first two months of 2024,” he said.
Perth continues to record the highest capital growth overall among the capital cities. Home values in the Western Australian capital rose 5.2 percent over the three months to February and are up 18.3 percent over the past year. Perth offers exceptional value to owner occupiers and investors compared to the big East Coast capitals. Its median house price is $718,560 compared to $1,395,804 in Sydney, $942,779 in Melbourne and $899,474 in Brisbane.
Mr Lawless added that Perth had the fastest pace of price growth among lower quartile homes of all the capital cities over the past three months. There was a 2.2 percent difference between the growth rate of lower priced homes and upper priced homes. A noticeable spike in East Coast investors purchasing in Western Australia over the past year may be contributing to this superior pace of growth, given most investors target lower priced properties for affordability and stronger rental yields.
Other data just released by CoreLogic reveals the total value of Australian residential real estate increased to an estimated $10.4 trillion at the end of February. This is a new record high, up from $10.3 trillion in January. By comparison, Australian superannuation is worth $3.7 trillion and the ASX share market is worth $3.1 trillion.
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For affluent homeowners, the laundry is no longer a utility space. It’s becoming a performance-driven investment in hygiene, longevity and seamless living.
2 min
In high-end homes, the most telling upgrades are no longer the obvious ones.
It’s not just the marble in the kitchen or the view from the terrace. Increasingly, it’s the rooms you don’t see, and how well they actually work.
The laundry is a perfect example.
Once treated as a purely functional space, it is now being reconsidered by architects and homeowners alike as a zone where performance, hygiene and design need to align.
And for buyers operating at the top end of the market, that shift is less about aesthetics and more about control.
Because in a home where everything is curated, inefficiency stands out.
ASKO’s latest “Laundry Care 2.0” range leans directly into that mindset, positioning the laundry as a long-term investment rather than a basic appliance purchase.
Built on more than 75 years of engineering, the Scandinavian brand’s latest systems focus on durability, precision and what is becoming a defining luxury in modern homes: quiet.
One of the more telling innovations is something most buyers would never think to question until it fails.
Traditional washing machines rely on rubber seals that trap dirt and bacteria over time. ASKO replaces that entirely with a steel solution designed to maintain a cleaner, more hygienic drum.
It’s not a headline feature. But it is exactly the kind of detail buyers tend to notice.
Then there is the issue of noise.
As open-plan living has become standard in prestige homes, the background hum of appliances has gone from unnoticed to intrusive.
ASKO’s suspension system is engineered to minimise vibration almost entirely, allowing machines to run without disrupting the wider home environment.
In practical terms, that means a load can run late at night without carrying through the house. In lifestyle terms, it means the home functions as intended.
The same thinking extends to the drying process. Uneven loads, tangled fabrics and repeat cycles are treated as inefficiencies rather than inconveniences, with technology designed to keep garments moving evenly and reduce wear over time.
For buyers, this is where the value proposition sharpens.
It is not about having more features. It is about removing friction.
Less maintenance. Less noise. Less time spent correcting what should have worked the first time.
In that sense, modern laundry is no longer just a utility. It is a reflection of how a home performs behind the scenes, and whether it lives up to the expectations set by everything else.
Because at this level, luxury is not just what you see.
It is what you don’t have to think about.
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