How lucky Aussies made almost $60,000 in a year by doing nothing

Australians fortunate enough to own a property typically made $59,000 during the last financial year.

That occurred as house and unit prices together rose by 8 per cent to $793,883, new CoreLogic data showed.

This marked a big change from a 2 per cent fall in 2022-23 when the Reserve Bank was aggressively hiking rates.

CoreLogic's research director Tim Lawless said a housing shortage meant home prices were likely to keep on rising, despite interest rates being at a 12-year high of 4.35 per cent.

'Until supply and demand rebalance there is likely to be further upwards pressure on home values,' he said.

'A material rise in new dwelling supply is likely to be a long time coming, considering approvals are holding well below average and barriers to construction, including compressed profit margins and scarce labour supply, remain significant.' 

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said home prices were likely to rise by 5 per cent in 2023-24, unless interest rate cuts were delayed.

'We expect home prices to rise around 5 per cent this financial year as the supply shortfall continues, but the pushing out of interest rate cuts and the possibility of further rate hikes along with the rising trend in unemployment pose a key constraint and downside risk,' he said.

Surprisingly, apartment values had some of the biggest increases in the year to June, but only in Brisbane and Adelaide where the median prices of units was even stronger than that for houses. 

'Home price gains are likely to remain widely divergent though with continued strength likely in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide for now partly helped by interstate migration but softness in other cities, particularly Melbourne,' Dr Oliver said.

Brisbane's median unit price rose by 18.8 per cent to $622,567, as the city's mid-point house price climbed by 15.2 per cent to $953,028.

Adelaide's middle apartment price went up by 18 per cent to $530,514, compared with a 15.1 per cent rise for house values, taking them to $824,669.

Perth was Australia's strongest market with house prices up 23.7 per cent to $791,926. 

In another bizarre development, Australia's two biggest cities only had subdued price growth despite receiving the largest intake of overseas migrants. 

Sydney's median house price over the year rose by 6.8 per cent to $1.466million as Melbourne's mid-point rose by just 1.2 per cent to $948,879. 

Australia's smallest capital city markets had weaker growth.

Darwin house prices rose 3.1 per cent to $589,166 as Canberra values went up 3.2 per cent to $986,414.

Hobart house prices fell 0.3 per cent to $691,339.