More Australian suburbs join the million dollar median club as housing affordability slips further

Almost one third of all Australian suburbs now have a median house or unit value at or above $1 million, new data has shown.

The latest CoreLogic Million-Dollar Markets report released today revealed 29.3 percent of the 4,772 suburbs analysed were members of the million-dollar club. The previous record was 26.9 percent in April 2022. CoreLogic economist Kaytlin Ezzy said the results are in stark contrast to median values in early 2020.

“At the onset of COVID, just 14.3 percent of house and unit markets had a median value at or above the $1 million mark,” she said. “With almost 30 percent of suburbs now posting a seven-figure median, the increase is a natural consequence of rising values and worsening affordability.”

Unsurprisingly, Sydney topped the table as Australia’s most expensive capital with a median of $1,180,463 and adding 46 net suburbs to the list. Sydney now has 448 house and 107 unit markets with a current median value of $1 million or greater.

However, growth in the smaller capitals has also been significant. CoreLogic data showed dwelling values in Brisbane have risen by 15 percent over the past year with a net increase of 46 million-dollar markets, tying with Sydney.

“The positive flow of interstate migration, coupled with a continued undersupply of advertised listings as well as newly built housing stock, has seen Brisbane values rise 65.1 percent since the onset of COVID,” Ms Ezzy said.

“Such a significant increase in home values has eroded much of the city’s previous affordability advantage, with Brisbane now having the second highest median dwelling value ($875,040) among the capitals.”

The results shine a light on housing affordability concerns, with the report noting that homeowners with a $800,000 mortgage and repayments based on current interest rates would need to be earning close to $200,000 in order to keep repayments under 30 percent of their income. Ms Ezzy said prior to the first interest rate hike, the minimum salary required for homeowners to avoid mortgage stress was about $125,000.

“Despite the increase in the number of million-dollar markets, borrowers are dedicating more of their income towards servicing their mortgage,” she said.

Many luxury hotels only build on their gilded reputations with each passing decade. But others are less fortunate. Here are five long-gone grandes dames that fell from grace—and one that persists, but in a significantly diminished form.

The Proto-Marmont |

The Garden of Allah, Los Angeles

A magnet for celebrities, the Garden of Allah was once the scene-making equivalent of today’s Chateau Marmont. Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s affair allegedly started there and Humphrey Bogart lived in one of its bungalows for a time.

Crimean expat Alla Nazimova leased a grand home in Hollywood after World War I, but soon turned it into a hotel, where she prioritised glamorous clientele. Others risked being ejected by guards and a fearsome dog dubbed the Hound of the Baskervilles. Demolished in the 1950s, the site’s now a parking lot.

The Failed Follow-Up |

Hotel Astor, New York City

The Astor family hoped to repeat their success when they opened this sequel to their megahit Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1904. It became an anchor of the nascent Theater District, buzzy (and naughty) enough to inspire Cole Porter to write in “High Society”: “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr…got pinched in the Astor Bar?”

That bar soon gained another reputation. “Gentlemen who preferred the company of other gentlemen would meet in a certain section of the bar,” said travel expert Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Atmosphere Research. By the 1960s, the hotel had lost its lustre and was demolished; the 54-storey One Astor Plaza skyscraper was built in its place.

The Island Playground |

Santa Carolina Hotel, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique

In the 1950s, colonial officers around Africa treated Mozambique as an off-duty playground. They flocked, in particular, to the Santa Carolina, a five-star hotel on a gorgeous archipelago off the country’s southern coast.

Run by a Portuguese businessman and his wife, the resort included an airstrip that ferried visitors in and out. Ask locals why the place was eventually reduced to rubble, and some whisper that the couple were cursed—and that’s why no one wanted to take over when the business collapsed in the ’70s. Today, seeing the abandoned, crumbled ruins and murals bleached by the sun, it’s hard to dismiss their superstitions entirely.

The Tourism Gimmick |

Bali Hai Raiatea, French Polynesia

The overwater bungalow, a shorthand for barefoot luxury around the world, began in French Polynesia—but not with the locals. Instead, it was a marketing gimmick cooked up by a trio of rascally Americans. They moved to French Polynesia in the late 1950s, and soon tried to capitalise on the newly built international airport and a looming tourism boom.

That proved difficult because their five-room hotel on the island of Raiatea lacked a beach. They devised a fix: building rooms on pontoons above the water. They were an instant phenomenon, spreading around the islands and the world—per fan site OverwaterBungalows.net , there are now more than 9,000 worldwide, from the Maldives to Mexico. That first property, though, is no more.

The New England Holdout |

Poland Springs Resort, Poland, Maine

The Ricker family started out as innkeepers, running a stagecoach stop in Maine in the 1790s. When Hiram Ricker took over the operation, the family expanded into the business by which it would make its fortune: water. Thanks to savvy marketing, by the 1870s, doctors were prescribing Poland Spring mineral water and die-hards were making pilgrimages to the source.

The Rickers opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, and eventually expanded it to include one of the earliest resort-based golf courses in the country, a barber shop, dance studio and music hall. By the turn of the century, it was among the most glamorous resort complexes in New England.

Mismanagement eventually forced its sale in 1962, and both the water operation and hospitality holdings went through several owners and operators. While the water venture retains its prominence, the hotel has weathered less well, becoming a pleasant—but far from luxurious—mid-market resort. Former NYU hospitality professor Bjorn Hanson says attempts at upgrading over the decades have been futile. “I was a consultant to a developer in the 1970s to return the resort to its ‘former glory,’ but it never happened.”