With talk of the Sydney and Melbourne housing markets racing away from prices in other cities and regions, we decided to ask: what can you buy in Australia for a million dollars?
From inner-city apartments to suburban cottages or a few acres in the rainforest, the answer depends on where you’re buying.
Housing affordability is set to be a big issue in the coming budget and one of the Turnbull government’s main arguments against making changes to negative gearing is that it doesn’t want to slam the brakes on housing markets nationwide when only Sydney and Melbourne are overheating.
The Nationals leader, Barnaby Joyce, has even urged Australians to look further afield and consider buying in Tamworth to get more bang for their buck.
To find out just how great the divide is, let’s start in the city with the biggest complaints about housing affordability – Sydney.
Surry Hills, Sydney
For an estimated $1m you could buy a unit in Surry Hills. This 76 sq m apartment, described as “a cool urban pad on the cusp of the CBD”, has two bedrooms, including one with almost enough room to pass between the bed and the wall without crab walking. It has a balcony and floor-to-ceiling windows, floorboards and exposed concrete. It’s one of 21 apartments in the building and has no parking.
Style: Apartment
Bedrooms: Two
Chippendale, Sydney
For under $1m you can live in the Central Park redevelopment, built on what used to be a brewery, in the heart of Sydney. It’s got 67sqm of indoor/outdoor living space, including one bedroom and a study space. The level-seven apartment has “district views” and a rooftop garden for the residents to enjoy. “Strategically located” to amenities including Central Station, Sydney University and the University of Technology Sydney.
Style: Apartment
Bedrooms: One
Tatton, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales
For just north of $1m ($1.045m), you could buy a four-bedroom house in Tatton, in Wagga Wagga. It is an “expansive family home … impressive in its grand scale”, with four bathrooms and four car spaces – enough for every occupant to drive home at the same time and use a separate toilet. Oh the luxury. The ad boasts the property’s “prestigious location”, offering panoramic views over Kooringal and Lake Albert, its architectural design, light space and in-ground swimming pool.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Four
Collingwood, Victoria
$975,000 could get you an off-the-plan, three-bedroom apartment in Collingwood with two bathrooms and two car spaces, a rooftop garden and, apparently, a cinema.
Style: Apartment on spec
Bedrooms: Three
Kensington, Victoria
A little less – $950,000 – could also buy a “quaint” three-bedroom timber Edwardian house in the increasingly gentrified, inner-west suburb of Melbourne, Kensington. A wide deck and a concrete courtyard, accessed via the rear of the property off a stone laneway, round out the property.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Three
South Fremantle, Western Australia
Money goes a little further in the Perth suburbs of South Fremantle and Highgate – $950,000 buys a renovated, three-bedroom weatherboard house a few streets back from the ocean.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Three
Highgate, Western Australia
In Highgate, on the edge of the Perth city limits, an early 1900s cottage with three bedrooms and two parking spaces, on 364 sq m, will set you back between $950,000 and $1m.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Three
Margaret River, Western Australia
For $950,000 you can live on the banks of the Margaret River, in a three-bedroom bushland cabin with private leafy gardens and kangaroos for neighbours.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Three
Richmond, Tasmania
Money goes a lot further in Tasmania’s real estate market. $1m+ is the asking price for this sandstone Georgian house with four bedrooms, space for seven cars and outbuildings that once served as servants’ quarters and stables. The house has a footprint of 376 sq m, sitting on 1629 sq m of land in Richmond, north-west of Hobart.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Four
Howrah, Tasmania
Why not two houses? On one block. On the beach. This $950,000 property in Howrah, across the bay from Hobart, has two self-contained houses, five bedrooms, four bathrooms and views of Mount Wellington and the water.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Five
Speewah, Queensland
Less than an hour from Cairns, it will cost less than $1m to find a “private sanctuary” of 4.76 acres at the edge of world heritage rainforest and a pristine, spring-fed lake. The four-bedroom semi-rural home is also near the Douglas walking track to the Barron Falls. The home includes wide, cool verandahs and a commercial-grade pizza oven. A separate dwelling is advertised as a potential studio.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Four
Kirra, Queensland
For under $1m you can get a three-bedroom apartment, metres from “the crystal clear waters and pristine sands of North Kirra”. Your neighbour on the other side is the Gold Coast airport, however, so even million-dollar homes have their drawbacks. It’s off the plan and for settlement mid-2018 so you will also have to wait a year for your uninterrupted north-east facing views across the sand and the Pacific Ocean.
Style: Apartment
Bedrooms: Three
Aldgate, South Australia
A five-bedroom house in the heart of the Adelaide Hills is going for a touch over $1m. It’s 35 minutes to the Adelaide CBD but the ad promises that the “exclusive address in Aldgate’s leafy dress circle” is only a few minutes’ drive to the village. Other features include open-plan living in the kitchen and dining area, a wide verandah that wraps around three sides of the home and a spacious master suite with walk-in wardrobe and ensuite bathroom.
Style: House
Bedrooms: Five
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