OK Boomer, what a 1980s house really costs buyers today

New data shows the difference between 1980s price adjusted for inflation in 2025 and actual prices.

Hopeful Geelong home buyers are paying substantially more money relative to the cost of everything else than generations before them, alarming new analysis reveals.

The exclusive PropTrack research showed home prices were four-times higher than in 1980 once adjusted for inflation.

But today’s buyers are paying between two and eight-times on top of the adjusted prices for a typical house in many suburbs.

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The research measured housing costs across each decade, showing property prices over the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s were also markedly cheaper when compared to other living costs.

Geelong’s $26,500 median house price in 1980 is equivalent to $136,100 in today’s money, while the $470,000 median in 2000 is worth $682,400 in today’s dollars.

But that’s well short of the actual $890,000 median house price in 2025.

The study also showed the dramatic shift in Geelong’s property market map, particularly as a result of gentrification.

Geelong West was the cheapest suburb back in 1980 when a typical house cost $23,075, cheaper than the average house in Norlane at the time.

In today’s money that’s just $118,000. The actual median price in the suburb is more than six-times higher at $872,000.

Inner suburbs such as Geelong, East Geelong and Manifold Heights had median house prices less than $30,000 in 1980.

35 Elizabeth St, Geelong West, is listed for sale with $790,000 to $850,000.

A typical house cost $34,000 in Newtown in 1980 ($177,200 in today’s money) compared to $1.117m today, while Highton was the most expensive suburb with a $48,000 median house price.

That’s $338,900 when adjusted for inflation, but is now worth $875,000.

Geelong buyers advocate Tony Slack said how typical buyers were entering the market today were different as the cost of housing increased compared to incomes.

“If you’re single or a couple and you’re renting, it does it make hard to crack in to the market,” he said.

“Without a doubt that there’s more family money there,” he said.

The four-bedroom house at 6 Orchid St, Norlane, is listed for sale with price hopes from $500,000 to $550,000.

“And government schemes are the same thing – they weren’t available when I bought the first time.

“I think the cost of living in the old days, there just seemed to be more money left over.”

Mr Slack said buyers were less prepared to buy a house that needed to improvements, but worked within a budget that favours lifestyle attributes, such as being close to a network of friends, family, work and social activities.

He said buyers often purchased their first home as a stepping stone, considering other factors such as schools with their second purchase.

“That worst house in the best street doesn’t seem to have as much bearing as it used to,” he said.

The three-bedroom house at 47 Olney Ave, Thomson, is listed for sale with price hopes from $625,000 to $655,000.

The study laid bare the widening generational wealth gap, with long-term home owners sitting on huge capital gains, while today’s first-time buyers are confronted with higher deposits, debt burdens.

PropTrack senior economist Angus Moore said the rapid growth in home prices since the early 1990s was linked to lower interest rates during that time.

The Reserve Bank of Australia this month cut 25 basis points from the official cash rate, now at 3.85 per cent compared to a high of 17 per cent in 1990.

Lower interest rates reduce the cost of borrowing, allowing buyers to afford larger loans, which can drive up property prices.

But the boost in borrowing power does not offset the growing cost of saving for a deposit.

“The deposit hurdle is just unequivocally harder than it was four or five decades ago, and that has manifested in home ownership rates which have fallen over those years,” Mr Moore said.

WHAT A 1980s house really costs today

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