Australia's housing market reached the incredible $12 trillion milestone earlier than expected

Death, taxes, and Australian wealth are reaching all-time highs. You could be forgiven if you thought these were life's undeniable promises.

The dollar value of the country's housing stock has reached its latest astonishing milestone, surpassing the $12 trillion mark. And this happened much earlier than anyone expected, says property tracking firm Quotality.

According to the company's latest monthly housing data, the price gap is widening as Australians prefer detached homes over units or apartments, while these sectors are claiming a larger share of rising property values.

Incredibly, the total Australian housing market is more than double the value it was a decade ago, when a quick Google search would have revealed worrying headlines about the then-high average prices.

The new $12 trillion milestone comes after strong price growth in October as the federal government launched a massive expansion of its 5 percent deposit scheme.

Home prices rose 1.1 percent in October. This is a jump from 0.8 percent in August and 0.9 percent in September.

The data shows evidence that the government program is boosting prices. Homes eligible for the program due to falling within the price range increased by 1.2 percent, while homes not eligible for buyers under the program increased by one percent.

Cotality economist Caitlin Ezzy said it was "somewhat surprising" that the lower end of the market in capital cities has seen the largest price increases following the recent rate cuts.

"Despite three rate cuts through 2025, it is somewhat surprising to see the lower-priced housing market segments continue to outperform," she said. "The higher-end of the property market is generally more sensitive to rate cuts."

Victoria lags, while regional and mid-sized cities are performing better
Cotality said regional markets such as South Australia, Western Australia, and Queensland have been performing better recently, indicating a geographical shift in market dynamics.

"Victoria has seen the largest decline in housing market share over the past five years, from 29 percent five years ago to less than a quarter by October this year," Ezzy said.

While prices in Sydney are at a different level, smaller cities have seen the largest percentage increases recently.

The rally in mid-sized capital cities continued into November, with Cotality's daily house price index rising 1.9 percent, 1.8 percent, and 1.4 percent respectively in Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide in the four weeks to November 10.

Melbourne and Sydney saw growth of 0.7 percent over the same period.

On a quarterly basis, house prices rose 2.8 per cent in the three months to October, the largest increase since July 2023, when the three-month change was 3.2 per cent.

Darwin and Perth saw quarterly price growth of 5.4 per cent, while Brisbane saw a 4.9 per cent increase.