In 1970 the median Sydney house cost about $18,700 (Abelson and Chung). Today the mean Australian dwelling is about $1.07 million (ABS, December quarter 2025). This page animates all 55 years - every boom, shock and tax change - with every figure sourced.
A note on the numbers: the 1970 to 2003 figures are median prices of established houses in Sydney (Abelson and Chung). The "today" figure is the Domain-method stratified Sydney median (July 2026) - a different methodology to the earlier series, so the bridge is indicative. The affordability, deposit and growth figures are separately sourced below. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. General information only, not advice.
Same sources as the story above, laid out side by side. Percentages are computed directly from the cited series.
11 moments that shaped what Australians pay for housing. Tax changed, banks froze, a pandemic hit - the direction never did.
Before September 1985, gains on an investment property were largely tax-free. CGT came in with indexation - only gains above inflation were taxed.
Negative gearing was never "introduced" - it was always in the tax system. Canberra switched it off in 1985, rents rose in Sydney and Perth, and it was back on within 2 years. Every debate since argues over those 2 years.
Every employer forced to pay in - 3% then, 12% now. Australians got a second wealth engine beside the family home.
Indexation swapped for something far more generous: hold 12 months, pay tax on half the gain. Investor lending surged - the +58% you saw from 2000 to 2003 followed.
$7,000 for every first buyer, brought in with the GST. Hand every buyer the same cheque and sellers lift the price - demand-side grants keep teaching this lesson.
SMSFs allowed to borrow, so retirement savings could buy residential property. Strict rules - you and your family can never live in it - but the door opened, and billions walked through.
The world's banks froze. Australia cut rates from 7.25% to 3%, boosted the first-home grant, and dodged the crash almost everyone else took. Prices dipped, then kept going.
A public inquiry into bank misconduct. Embarrassed lenders started forensically checking every borrower - borrowing power shrank, and Sydney and Melbourne fell roughly 10-15% before recovering. Proof that what banks will lend moves prices as much as rates do.
Rates to 0.1% and banks flooded with cheap money. The predicted crash lasted a month - then the biggest boom the capitals have seen, with Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane closing the gap on the big two and at times overtaking Melbourne.
Negative gearing quarantined for established homes. CGT back on 1985's indexation method. 41 years later the rulebook returned to where it started - we built a calculator for what it means for you.
One slider. See what a typical Sydney house cost at the milestones of your own life - and what it would cost today.
Milestones between 2004 and today are bridged from the 2003 Abelson & Chung Sydney median to the Domain stratified Sydney median for July 2026 ($1,835,214) - treat those as indicative.
Slide to the year they bought. If you know what they actually paid, type it in and see what that money looks like against a home today.
The year-by-year "typical Sydney house" is interpolated between Abelson and Chung's published 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2003 Sydney medians. Today's figure is the Domain-method stratified Sydney median for July 2026 ($1,835,214) - different methodology to the earlier series, so treat the multiple as indicative, not exact. Not advice.
$18,700 felt expensive. It was nearly 5 years of pay, rates were about to spike, and the papers were full of reasons to wait. Fine - but what about later?
Every one of those was, at the time, a sensible-sounding reason not to buy. 55 years of them. And through all of it, the line on this page did one thing.
Too many people. Not enough homes. Today is no different - Australia built 177,000 homes in 2024 and needed 223,000.
Supply figures: National Housing Supply & Affordability Council, State of the Housing System 2025. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.
Prices readjusted from time to time - 1990, 2008, 2018 - but take the long view and the direction has been one way for 55 years. That's the long view. If you want the current one, and where we think the value is right now, let's talk.
Book a call →Every figure on this page traces to one of these.