Brisbane has officially joined the million-dollar club. In May 2025, the city’s median house value surpassed $1 million for the first time on record, reaching $1,006,000. Just a month later, it edged even higher to $1,011,000, according to Cotality’s latest data.
That milestone places Brisbane alongside Sydney as one of Australia’s most expensive capital city housing markets.
The milestone also marks Brisbane’s ninth consecutive month as the second-highest capital city by median house value, having overtaken Canberra in October 2023 and Melbourne in June 2023.
Despite this status, the gap between Sydney and Brisbane remains substantial.
Sydney’s median house value is currently $549,000 higher, just shy of the record $567,000 difference recorded in October last year.
Meanwhile, Brisbane’s median house value is now about $63,000 higher than Melbourne’s and $30,000 higher than Canberra’s.
The rise in Brisbane house prices has been both rapid and significant.
Over the past five years, Cotality’s Home Value Index (HVI) shows a 76.1% increase in Brisbane house values, from June 2020 to June 2025.
The city’s median house value jumped from $558,000 to $1,011,000 over that same period.
Why Brisbane?
The city’s spike is largely tied to strong population growth and tight housing supply, factors intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between June 2020 and June 2024, Greater Brisbane’s population grew by 9.2%, adding approximately 235,000 people, compared to a national population growth rate of 6.0%.
Assuming an average household size of 2.5 people, that population increase created demand for around 94,000 additional dwellings.
Over the same period, Brisbane is estimated to have completed around 88,000 homes, suggesting a shortfall that likely contributed to rising prices and urgency among buyers.
“Prior to 2020, the Brisbane market had experienced a long-term period of softer growth conditions – setting the market up for a more affordable starting point when the COVID housing boom arrived,” Eliza Owen, Head of Research at Cotality, said.
Brisbane’s warmer climate and lower housing density also added to its lifestyle appeal during the pandemic.
While overseas migration has contributed to housing demand across all states, Queensland in particular has benefitted from strong interstate migration, with more Australians relocating north – and fewer leaving the Sunshine State.
This shift in population dynamics has underpinned a “virtuous cycle” for the state economy, Ms Owen said, with Queensland outperforming other states on job growth and state final demand.
But surging prices come at a cost.
“The recent high in property prices means a loss in the affordability advantage it had just a few years ago,” Ms Owen warns.
This is beginning to show in the numbers: while Brisbane house values lifted 1.9% in the June 2025 quarter, that’s down from 3.5% in the same quarter a year ago, and well off the 10.2% surge recorded in late 2021.
With affordability tightening, Brisbane’s real estate boom may be approaching a more moderated phase, though its place in the million-dollar club now seems secure.
