Christmas bounty for Adelaide house sellers as latest price revealed
Another national record in house sales over December saw Adelaide win a surprise spot on the leader board, according to latest figures released today. See how much it costs to buy homes around the nation.
Entering the property market just got a bit harder in Adelaide after the national home price reached a record $880,000, according to the latest PropTrack data.
Adelaide was the best-performing capital city in December, with home prices up 0.8 per cent to a median of $908,000 backed by home loan interest rate cuts, following a 12.8 per cent rise over the year.
It now costs more to buy a house in Adelaide than it does in Melbourne, with prices up by 12.8 per cent over 2025 for the South Australian capital, equating to growth of $101,600, with the median value of an Adelaide home on par with historic peaks.
Adelaide is now the fourth most expensive property market four home buyers in the country after Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, and its homes’ median price tags now beat Melbourne by about $50,000.
Real Estate Institute of South Australia (REISA) CEO Andrea Heading said Adelaide’s trend bucked what has been happening nationally, with investors flocking to purchase rental stock.
But affordability was a concern for the REISA CEO with Heading saying “for the first-time buyer it’s going to be even more of a struggle for them to be able to get a foothold in the market”.
“Something that was probably relatively achievable five years ago is not so now,” she said.
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“Our advice has always been to maybe modify what your first home looks like; is it a little bit further out, is it more of a homette as opposed to the house and garden.”
Heading said house price growth was typically concentrated in Adelaide’s inner-eastern suburbs, but that traditionally affordable areas like Elizabeth or Munno Purra were becoming less so.
The new national high in December followed monthly growth of 0.1 per cent, and growth of 8.8 per cent over the year, the PropTrack report found.
Home prices in Sydney and Melbourne fell in December, each dipping by 0.3 per cent, but despite this, prices were still higher than a year ago.
The median home value in Sydney hit $1.24 million, after annual growth of 6.4 per cent, while Melbourne recorded $854,000 after a yearly gain of 4.5 per cent.
In Brisbane, the median tipped over the million-dollar mark to $1.01 million as the booming Queensland capital recorded annual growth of 14.6 per cent.
Perth also did very well, with 0.5 per cent growth in the month, in line with Brisbane, to a median value of $950,000 after annual growth of 17.2 per cent.
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Regional areas outperformed the capitals throughout 2025, recording higher price growth compared to last year by 0.4 per cent.
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“Home prices are predicted to head to new highs in 2026, however, the pace of growth is expected to slow,” REA Group senior economist and report author Anne Flaherty said.
“Price growth in 2025 was supported by three rate cuts.”
With no further interest rate cuts expected in 2026, there is a possibility rates could rise if domestic inflation persists.
But limited housing supply and persistent demand could counteract any rate hikes by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
“The Australian government’s five per cent deposit scheme is also likely to support price growth by driving up demand, particularly at the more affordable end of the market,” Flaherty said.
As well, increasing building costs and a tight labour market for construction trades will continue to keep housing supply far below what the country requires and could therefore drive house prices up.
Data published by PropTrack rival Cotality on Friday found Australian home values had surged by 8.6 per cent in 2025, adding about $71,400 to the national median dwelling value.
It was the strongest calendar year gain in home values since 2021, when the market rose 24.5 per cent amid emergency low interest rates and record-high purchasing activity during the pandemic.
– with AAP
