Regional Australia’s million-dollar club grows
Regional Australia’s million-dollar property club has grown tenfold over the past five years and is expected to continue its expansion in 2025.
A new report by Ray White showed that regional Australia has seen its popularity grow, with mean house price reaching nearly $1 million in 20 locations in 2024 – a growth from just two areas five years ago.
Ray White’s senior data analyst Atom Go Tian said the regional Australian areas have “undergone a dramatic expansion”, with coastal suburbs at the forefront for investors.
“Coastal areas feature prominently throughout this list, confirming the premium that buyers place on waterfront and oceanside locations,” Tian said.
The 2025 Property Outlook Report showed that Queensland is once again at the forefront of the country’s growth, with the Gold Coast’s Surfers Paradise topping the list.
“The concentration of $1 million areas in Queensland’s coastal regions is unsurprising, with the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast collectively accounting for 14 of the 20 million-dollar areas,” Tian said.
The Gold Coast’s Surfers Paradise area house geometric mean has now reached $1.9 million, and Tian said it is likely the area will be the first to breach the $2 million threshold in 2025.
Following Surfers Paradise, the Gold Coast’s Broadbeach-Burleigh property mean reached $1.8 million in 2024, while the Sunshine Coast’s Noosa rounds out the top three with houses averaging $1.5 million.
In comparison to Queensland which saw 14 locations being added to the list, in 2024 NSW saw five locations being added to the exclusive group with Wollongong, Coastal Richmond Valley, Southern Highlands, Tweed Valley, and Kiama-Shellharbour.
Victoria, on the other hand, saw only one location join the regional million-dollar club, the Surf Coast-Bellarine Peninsula, in the Geelong region.
Tian said that four more regional areas have the potential to reach the million-dollar mark in the next 12 months.
“The Sunshine Coast Hinterland, currently at $972,787, is projected to reach $1.05 million, supported by an impressive 8 per cent average annual growth over the past decade,” Tian said.
“Both Ormeau-Oxenford in the Gold Coast and Newcastle in regional NSW, currently hovering around $960,000, are expected to reach $1.03 million, driven by consistent 7 per cent annual growth rates.”
“Lake Macquarie-East completes this emerging group, with current house prices of $955,128 expected to rise to $1.02 million in the coming year,” he said.
In addition to the expected 2025 newcomers, Tian believes that seven more regional areas are set to break through the million-dollar club in the next 24–36 months.
The report forecasts five more locations in NSW, including Illawarra, Porth Stephens, Coffs Harbour, Shoalhaven and Lake Macquarie West. Properties in these areas currently range from $850,000 to $893,000 and are expected to grow on average by 8 per cent in the next 10 years.
Tian said Queensland will continue to “strengthen its position” with more suburbs joining the million-dollar club in both the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast regions.
Western Australia is also forecast to enter the regional million-dollar club within the next couple of years with Augusta-Margaret River-Busselton in the Bunbury region, with properties forecast to reach $937,312 in 2025 and grow by 5.6 per cent in the next 10 years.
Tian said the “formula” for regional areas to join the million-dollar club combines lifestyle appeal and proximity to regional areas.
“Coastal areas feature prominently throughout this list. Many of these high-value regions are satellite cities or areas within commuting distance of major metropolitan centres, suggesting that accessibility to urban amenities remains a key driver of property values,” Tian concluded.