New data shows more than a dozen Illawarra suburbs have joined the housing market's million-dollar club during the past year.
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CoreLogic's inaugural 'Million Dollar Markets' report has identified 218 markets nationally where either house or unit median values in a suburb reached the million-dollar-mark in May 2021 compared to May 2020.
This includes 15 suburbs located within the Illawarra (see table below) that now have a million-dollar median value.
In Sydney, there are 340 house and 79 unit markets with a current median value of $1 million or higher at May 2021; 25.4 per cent more than one year earlier.
In regional NSW, 55 suburbs (53 for houses and two for units) have a median value of $1 million; 267 per cent higher than a year ago.
Eliza Owen, CoreLogic's head of research Australia said regional NSW represented an "extraordinary" story within the report.
She said there had been a large uplift in million-dollar suburbs, which spoke to the broad-based nature of the current market upswing - as opposed to the previous housing boom, which was concentrated in Sydney and Melbourne.
"It's almost like that million-dollar craze has kind of spilled over into the regions since COVID," she said.
"A lot of it is happening in the Illawarra, Shoalhaven and Southern Highlands.
"It's (due to) COVID in the sense that COVID has induced a very expansive monetary response. Mortgage rates have become very cheap, a lot of government incentives were introduced to support housing demand.
"But I think ultimately this also speaks to an ongoing trend, where there's been persistently more migration to regional NSW, in response to a change in lifestyle, and in response to affordability constraints across Sydney."
Ms Owen said these figures were great news for current home owners, but also emphasised the "difference between the haves and the have-nots".
"People who have owned property during this period have just seen enormous wealth increases, whereas there are probably more barriers now to home ownership for people who are renting and trying to get into the market," she said.
According to CoreLogic, suburbs with less than 20 sales observations, and low confidence in the median valuation had been excluded from the report.
The report also notes that suburbs may have previously made the million-dollar list at another point in time.
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