How has the housing market changed since COVID-19?

Since March 2020, when COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic, the report showed that national housing values have increased by 44.5 per cent, more than double the 20.1 per cent growth in unit values.

CoreLogic Australia’s research director, Tim Lawless, said that this difference in growth rates reflected the strong preference for “space” during the height of the pandemic.

“During the early pandemic surge in values (July 2020 to April 2022) national house values rose 38.5 per cent compared with a 16.9 per cent rise in unit values,” Lawless said.

During the second wind of growth from February 2023 to October 2024, Lawless said the capital gain was mostly similar across dwellings, with a 15.5 per cent gain in house values and an 11 per cent rise in units.

He said that the growth trend for unit values arched up over time, which he attributed to worsening affordability and the “burgeoning undersupply” of newly built multi-unit dwellings.

“The convergence, or even outperformance, of units relative to houses in some cities, comes as affordability pressures deflect more demand towards the multi-unit sector,” he said.

While the gap between housing and unit values hasn’t reached the levels seen during the pandemic, Lawless observed that housing values have generally maintained a stronger growth trend.

“The percentage difference between the national median house and unit value reached a record high of 32 per cent in June 2022, and based on the most recent data to February 2025, the difference remains elevated at 31.5 per cent,” Lawless said.

While housing values have increased nationally over the past five years, some states have experienced higher growth than others.

“Nationally, home values have been on a roller coaster ride, rising by a cumulative 38.4 per cent, adding approximately $227,000 to the median dwelling value,” Lawless said.

“For some context, the previous five-year period saw national home values rise by a much smaller 20.6 per cent, and the five years before that the market was up just 14.7 per cent,” he added.

Regional housing values outpace capital city growth

Since the pandemic, regional housing values have outpaced capital cities, jumping 56.3 per cent compared to 33.6 per cent in the capitals.

Lawless said that “lifestyle regions” were at the lead for capital gains in the early stages of the pandemic, with home value increasing by 74.7 per cent in Byron Bay, 70.8 per cent in Gympie, and 65.8 per cent in Medowie.

“These regions, and many others, shared the commonality of commutability and lifestyle that drove demand and prices higher,” he explained.

Recent findings have shown that the top regional growth markets have become more diverse including rural Queensland markets such as Townsville, Rockhampton and Gladstone, and coastal Western Australian markets such as Bunbury, Busselton and Geraldton.

“The stronger growth conditions in these areas may reflect affordability challenges becoming more apparent across many of the commutable lifestyle markets, as well as changed demographic patterns as more workers returned to an office location,” Lawless said.

Mid-sized capitals surge to prominence

Despite slower growth in capital cities since the pandemic began, CoreLogic’s data showed that mid-sized capitals led the cumulative housing value growth over the past five years.

Perth topped the growth tables with a significant 75.9 per cent rise in housing values since March 2020, which added roughly $348,519 to the median dwelling value.

Lawless noted that the Perth market’s performance marked a shift from before the pandemic, when the city’s median dwelling value was the second lowest of any capital city after Darwin.

“Perth came into this growth cycle from a relatively weak and very affordable housing position, with the five years before March 2020 recording an 11.8 per cent drop in dwelling values,” he said.

Despite the significant rise in values, Lawless highlighted that Perth’s median dwelling value remains more affordable than the higher values in Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra and Adelaide as of February 2025.

Adelaide notched up the second-highest cumulative rise in values across the capitals since March 2020, with growth of 73.1 per cent adding approximately $347,092 to the median dwelling value.

Similarly to Perth, Lawless said that Adelaide entered the cycle after a “generally soft run of growth”.

“Dwelling values had risen by ‘only’ 11.1 per cent in the five years ahead of March 2020 and the median was third-lowest across the capitals (after Perth and Darwin),” Lawless said.

Adelaide is among the most unaffordable capital cities, with the second-highest unaffordability metrics after Sydney.

Despite the exceptional performance of the Perth and Adelaide markets over the last five years, Lawless said this momentum in the mid-sized capitals has gradually receded due to various market factors.

“Each of the capitals has shown a different trend driven by differences in demographic flows, local economic conditions, housing affordability, investment demand, policy settings and housing supply levels,” Lawless said.

“While the mid-sized capitals have dominated the pandemic growth trend, it is clear these markets are now losing momentum,” he concluded.