Market insight: Is your house earning more than you?

Is your house earning more than you?

Ultimately it depends on where you live. But on a macro-level, the answer has been “no” over the past 12 months with the exception of one lone ranger capital where properties earn $16,454 more annually than their owners.

Latest Ray White Group property data shows Perth is currently the only place where houses earn more than people, despite house prices jumping from $871,671 to $918,296, between April 2024 and April 2025.

Meanwhile, the median annual income sat at $72,592 for the same period – 1.5 times more than the $46,625 the average Aussie home made for its owners over the year.

“Perth is the only place where houses earned more than people. In fact, Perth residents seem to have it best,” Ray White Senior Data Analyst Atom Go Tian said.

“Not only do they earn the second highest annual income across the country, but their houses made the biggest gains in the last 12 months.

“Perth house prices surged by $95,022, climbing from $812,482 to $907,504. Even Canberra with annual incomes of $93,351 couldn’t match what Perth houses made.”

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Source: Ray White Group

Even on a suburb level Perth dominated the list, with the exception of Clear Island Waters on the Gold Coast, and Sunnybank and Macgregor, both in Brisbane.

“Here, income patterns are more varied, ranging from $53,000 to $152,000,” Mr Go Tian said.

“What’s especially telling is the range of house prices. Even among Perth’s strongest performers, house prices remain relatively accessible compared to Sydney and Melbourne.

“For example, Macgregor in Brisbane (where houses outperformed incomes) have house prices of just $1.38m – less than half of Melbourne’s Toorak at $3.94m. This shows a major market shift.

“Previously, Sydney’s Eastern and Northern suburbs led Australia for house price growth, outpacing local incomes by six-to-eight times.

“Now those luxury markets have cooled, and growth has moved to mid-tier markets in Perth, Gold Coast and Brisbane as buyers seek better value.”

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Source: Ray White Group

How do other cities compare?

In Adelaide, it’s neck and neck with both annual personal income and house price growth sitting at just over $63,000.

Brisbane homeowners are just keeping their noses in front, earning roughly $2000 more than their houses appreciated. However, the gap widens from here.

Melbourne and Canberra have the greatest disparity between personal income and house price growth – Melburnians made 5.5 times more than their properties, while Canberrans pulled in five times what their houses did.

Perth is the only capital where homes are still earning more than their owners.

On the extremes: Big earners picking up the slack

It is no surprise then that Melbourne dominates the list of suburbs where people earn more than their houses.

The only non-Melbourne suburbs on this list are Balmain (Sydney), Yarralumla and Deakin (both in Canberra).

“What’s striking is these are all wealthy suburbs with annual incomes between $130,000 to$156,000 – double Australia’s median.This is the opposite of what we would expect,” Mr Go Tian said.

“Typically, house values grow faster than incomes in expensive areas, and incomes outpace house growth in more affordable areas.

“Four years ago, during the last census, 78 per cent of suburbs where people out-earned their homes were in regional areas with average house prices of $360,000.

“Today, the suburbs where you earn more than your house have prices between $1.9m to $3.9m.”

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