If you’re planning to buy your first house this year, you’ll need to make sure you’re prepared to pay at least $1,500,000 for it.
That’s the price tag for a three-bedroom, four-bath house in suburban Melbourne, where the median house price in the state is $1m.
The median sale price for a house in Victoria is $2.8m, according to real estate website Trulia.
The most expensive Sydney property in the suburbs, however, is just $3.2m.
What’s your plan for saving money this year?
While the median price of a house across Australia has dropped since 2010, the median sale prices of Melbourne houses are still more than five times higher than the median selling price of homes in other states and territories.
The average sale price in Victoria for a four-bedroom house in the suburb of Northcote in the western suburbs is $734,000.
A $1-million house is a good starting point, but you’ll want to consider other areas of your life as well.
For example, the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst has the highest median home value in the country at $3m, but the median home price of the suburbs around it is $900,000, according of Trulia, which also tracks home prices.
The highest average selling price in Northcove is $936,000 in Sydney.
“If you’re looking for a Sydney suburb to buy, look at Darlinghurst, which is an incredibly nice suburb, and you’ll find that it’s an extremely good buy,” said Trulia’s CEO Paul Crouch.
You can find out how much you can afford in your local area by going to Trulia and checking the list of suburbs.
If you have a smaller home or want to move in with family, Trulia recommends looking for an affordable house near a school.
It also recommends getting advice on whether you can find a house nearby.
More: How to get the most out of your deposit savingsThis article was originally published on Australian Financial Review.
Read the original article here.