The suburbs where house prices fell by double digits
Some of Australia’s most beautiful and beloved suburbs have had hundreds of thousands of dollars slashed off their house values with up to 20 per cent price falls over the past 12 months, the latest Domain House Price Report reveals.
Melbourne’s blue-chip Toorak saw nearly $600,000 shaved off its median price over the year, while Burwood in Sydney’s Inner West, recently named Australia’s coolest suburb by Time Out for 2025, saw a plunge of just under half a million dollars.
Meanwhile, Tasmania’s pretty riverside city Launceston was the biggest loser, with its median house price tumbling 20 per cent, with dynamic West Melbourne not far behind, recording a 19.1 per cent drop, and Queensland’s ritzy Paradise Point on the Gold Coast third on the shame list with a fall of 18.7 per cent.
In an overall Australian market that’s surging, with the median price for the combined capital cities jumping by 7.5 per cent over the year, the steep falls in some areas could mean great opportunities for less well-heeled buyers to gain a foothold. Yet, the price plummets have come as a shock to many.
| Suburb | Median | Annual Change | Price Fall |
| Launceston | $620,000.00 | -20.00% | -$124,000.00 |
| West Melbourne | $517,500.00 | -19.10% | -$98,842.50 |
| Paradise Point | $2,195,000.00 | -18.70% | -$410,465.00 |
| Burwood | $2,690,000.00 | -18.50% | -$497,650.00 |
| Carlton | $1,130,000.00 | -18.10% | -$204,530.00 |
| Centennial Park | $845,250.00 | -16.90% | -$142,847.25 |
| Sorrento | $1,750,000.00 | -16.70% | -$292,250.00 |
| Malvern East | $480,000.00 | -16.50% | -$79,200.00 |
| Elizabeth Bay | $920,000.00 | -16.40% | -$150,880.00 |
| Carlton | $320,000.00 | -16.10% | -$51,520.00 |
| Melbourne | $470,000.00 | -16.10% | -$75,670.00 |
| Kirribilli | $1,300,000.00 | -15.20% | -$197,600.00 |
| Maribyrnong | $877,500.00 | -15.20% | -$133,380.00 |
| Kingscliff | $825,000.00 | -14.90% | -$122,925.00 |
| Toorak | $4,150,000.00 | -14.40% | -$597,600.00 |
| Barwon Heads | $1,450,000.00 | -14.30% | -$207,350.00 |
| Footscray | $450,000.00 | -13.80% | -$62,100.00 |
| Newtown | $995,000.00 | -13.50% | -$134,325.00 |
| Cottesloe | $2,950,000.00 | -13.20% | -$389,400.00 |
| Double Bay | $1,925,000.00 | -13.00% | -$250,250.00 |
“It is a surprise as I’m absolutely swamped with buyers at the moment, so wouldn’t have expected any weakening in prices,” said Lauren Atkinson of Howell Property Group in Launceston, where the median house price has now fallen to $620,000.
“But, thinking about it, it’s particularly the lower end of the market that’s incredibly strong.
“The property price limits for first-home buyer grants in Tasmania have increased from $450,00 to $550,000 and we’ve had the First Home Guarantee scheme, which has really kicked up the more affordable market. Sales of more affordable property have probably brought down the median price.”
West Melbourne’s median unit price drop to $517,500 was also unexpected for many local agents. But there are many potential buyers who simply haven’t caught up with the rapid change in the suburb from its industrial past, believes Eleanor Currie, agent and auctioneer with Whitefox Real Estate, Northside.
“It’s not often on everyone’s radar. It still does have quite an industrial aspect to it, and it can easily be overlooked. Buyers tend not to put it in their search criteria, so it only comes up as a close-by suburb,” she says.
“There are tree-lined streets but also some pretty significant roads that are throughfares. But the main benefit is its proximity to the CBD, Queen Victoria Market and access to main routes in and out of Melbourne.”
Domain chief of research and economics Dr Nicola Powell said some of the big price drops seemed counter-intuitive given the strength of the market generally, especially with house prices in Hobart up by 8 per cent, Melbourne up 6.2 per cent, Sydney up 6.3 per cent and Brisbane up 10 per cent over the past 12 months.
“What we have at the moment is momentum being led by the more affordable suburbs growing the most, whereas it always used to be the prestige areas that led growth,” she says.
“The more affordable market has been boosted by improved cash rates, the First Home Guarantee and more first-home buyer incentives.”
In contrast, the prestige market is moving more slowly after a period of acceleration during the pandemic.
“The prestige lifestyle market grew at such an extreme rate over the pandemic, and now we’re not seeing such a high level of demand, while some of those suburbs are smaller so we’re seeing smaller volumes of transactions,” says Powell.
On the bright side, she points out, it means more opportunities for mid-level buyers to enter that prestige market, in which prices have slumped.
Paradise Point, the glamorous Queensland suburb on the Gold Coast’s Broadwater, looks as though it’s become marginally more affordable, with that double-digit fall in its median house price cutting off $410,650 to a new level at $2,195,000.
Local agent Mitch Booth of Amir Prestige Group says there’s been a bit of a readjustment of price, probably led by the suburb’s Sovereign Island, where three big buys by billionaire Clive Palmer for $20 million can see the median rise substantially, and sales see it fall by the same amount.
“Sovereign Island has really struggled recently,” says Booth. ,
“There’s a lot of stock and it’s not selling. But it’s a place that, when you have a big sale, suddenly there’s a domino effect and lots of others decide to buy and sell too.
“Paradise Point is still strongly sought-after with mums and dads, but with Sovereign Island, where the entry level is $3 million and prices that range up to $20 million and $230 million plus, we’ve seen a big shift.”
Sydney’s Burwood had the next-largest percentage drop. The median house price dropped by 18.5 per cent, or $497,650, to $2.69 million.
Agent Stevan Vuk-Luboya of Richard Matthews Real Estate is currently selling a three-bedroom Federation house there that’s been in the same family for 42 years at 55a Liverpool Road, Burwood.
“Strathfield and Concord have been really popular for big blocks and nice parks, and they’ve tended to take the shine from Burwood,” he says.
“But it’s only just been named the coolest suburb, which is coming up a lot in the conversations with younger buyers. I think Burwood is up and coming.”
Down south, Melbourne’s Toorak saw the biggest financial loss, with its median house price slumping $597,600, or 14.4 per cent, to $4.15 million.
Richard Mackinnon of Marshall White Stonnington is currently selling a house there at close to double that median at 235 Kooyong Road, Toorak, where the price guide is $7.9 million to $8.6 million.
As for the median price drop, he says, “Sometimes vendors have higher expectations than the market is ready to accept. The market has come back a bit, but the median depends on what’s selling.
“We’ve definitely been selling a lot of the more affordable product, with everything under $1 million selling very, very well, which brings the median down.”
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