The landscape of the Australian property market has fundamentally shifted, with the seven-figure price tag rapidly transitioning from a symbol of prestige to an increasingly commonplace reality. According to Cotality’s latest analysis, which evaluated 4,844 markets (comprising 3,514 houses and 1,330 units) nationwide, one in three (34.1%) recorded a median house or unit value of $1 million or more in September, establishing a new record high. This figure marks a notable increase from the 30.3% recorded just one year prior, illustrating the swift pace of market inflation.

This widespread financial threshold is reshaping the definition of the mainstream market. Over the year leading up to September, properties with a median value of $1 million or more accounted for 30.8% of national sales, a substantial increase that more than doubles the 15.2% share they held during the corresponding period in 2020. Cotality Economist Kaytlin Ezzy highlighted that as membership in the seven-figure club reaches these unprecedented levels, the million-dollar benchmark is effectively “losing some of its relevance”.

The dramatic expansion is rooted in significant national dwelling value growth over the past half-decade. Five years ago, only 14.0% of Australian suburbs belonged to the million-dollar club, primarily concentrated in Sydney’s highly prestigious Northern Beaches, Eastern Suburbs, and North Sydney and Hornsby regions. Since then, national dwelling values have risen by 46.8%, or roughly $270,000 at the median level, causing membership in the million-dollar club to surge by 142.9%. Today, this prevalence is evident in the fact that 41.9% of house suburbs and 13.5% of unit suburbs nationally claim a spot on the list.

Crucially, the geographical face of this expansion is changing. The surge is no longer confined solely to traditionally prestigious locales. Sydney now has just 15% of its suburbs remaining with a median house value under the $1 million mark, located exclusively in the city’s western “mortgage belt” and Central Coast region. Furthermore, median house values in the broader capital city regions of Brisbane and Canberra have both crossed above the seven-figure threshold. Brisbane led the capitals and rest of state regions over the year, adding 37 new markets (plus one re-entrant) to the club. Newly minted million-dollar markets are increasingly found in suburban fringes—areas historically not associated with prestige. Examples of these “more mortgage belt suburbs” now in the million-dollar category include Penrith in Sydney, Taylors Lakes in Melbourne, Oxley in Brisbane’s Ipswich region, and Upper Coomera on the Northern Gold Coast.