Other than the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one of the most common sources for Australian Property values is RPData.com, who quote the following data source records, as at 1 July 2010:
over 150.7 million Property Data Records
over 35.2 million Property Records
over 29.4 million Attributes/Features
over 30.2 million On the Market
As an example of the free data that they provide to the public, here are two charts from 2010.
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From these two charts, you can see that Sydney has dropped from $512,000 to $505,000 between the June 2010 quarter and the August 2010 quarter.
These charts of course also show the annualised figures for increases in each area, with Melbourne still showing a 13.2% growth for the year. Brisbane and Perth however, are both showing under 1% growth for the year ended August 2010.
Median Property Values, what are they ?
Changes in median property values do not necessarily indicate that PRICES have actually changed by those figures. It could indicate a change of the type of buyers.
Two extreme examples to indicate the reasoning to people:
Example ONE
5 houses sell in QTR 1:
$200k, $350k, $400k, $450k, $600k
The median price is the middle one, ie: $400k
Property prices rise by 10%, and in the next period 5 similar houses again sell:
QTR 2:$220k, $220k, $385k, $495k, $660k
The median price, always being the middle one, is now: $385k
A drop from $400k to $385k even though actual prices went up by 10%. The cause of the difference being that more of the lower price range properties sold.
Another example, the other way round:
Example TWO
5 houses sell in QTR 1: $200k, $350k, $400k, $450k, $600k
The median price is the middle one, ie: $400k
But prices drop by 20%, so the above group of houses are now worth ($160k, $280k, $320k, $360k, $480k), and some first home buyers jump at the lower prices to get a bigger house.
QTR 2: 5 houses sell for: $160k, $280k, $480k, $480k ,$480k
The median price, always being the middle one, is now: $480k.
Even though actual prices have dropped by 20%, the Median price has risen by 20%.
This should always be considered when looking at median prices.
A more recent example of RD Data values is:
