The doors to Melbourne’s once-exclusive $1 million club have been blown wide open, as house prices continue to soar across the city.

There are now 115 suburbs with a seven-digit median house price, compared to 82 about a year and a half ago, Domain Group data shows. There were 23 entrants over the past six months.

Though Seddon and Yarraville have long been hot spots in the inner west, they have officially hit $1 million over the past six months — and Newport is not far away.

It is a similar story in the inner north, where Brunswick and Brunswick East are now on the property rich list, with Brunswick West’s median house price just shy of $1 million. Thornbury also now has a median of

$1,135,000.



Village Real Estate’s Huss Saad said in Seddon and Yarraville, $1 million could buy an updated single-fronted, two-bedroom house on about 200 square metres, probably with no off-street parking, but a few years ago, those same houses would sell for $700,000-$750,000.

Last month, three would-be buyers competed for one of those “neat and tidy” homes with an ’80s kitchen at 5 Hood Street, Yarraville, which sold for $1.06 million to a first-home buyer couple.

As Melbourne becomes a city of multi-millionaire property owners, $1 million is no longer the benchmark for prestige.

There are now 14 Melbourne suburbs with a $2 million median price, including two new entrants: Eaglemont and St Kilda West. In comparison, there are 78 Sydney suburbs in the $2 million club.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said suburbs with a $2 million median were genuinely prestigious.

With a 15 per cent annual increase in Melbourne’s median house price over the past year — and 4 per cent over the quarter — there was always going to be a big increase in the number of suburbs in the million-dollar club, Dr Wilson said.

House prices are also creeping higher in the north-west, with Essendon North hitting a $1 million median for the first time and Niddrie following close behind with a median of $991,000.

“Once upon a time, [Niddrie] was always considered the poor cousin to a suburb like Essendon,” Barry Plant’s Tony Catena said. “Essendon had always been the jewel in the crown in the City of Moonee Valley, but they share the same sort of transport and shopping.”

He said good schools such as St John Bosco Primary was a major driver of price growth in Niddrie.

Rising house prices had forced families to consider “side-by-side townhouses”; a new three-bedroom home at 40A Jackson Street attracted six bidders and sold for $1,291,000 last month, he said. It was marketed at $950,000-$1,050,000.

“Developers have cottoned on that if you have $1 million, and don’t want to spend any more on renovations, those are really viable options,” Mr Catena said, adding that unrenovated weatherboard homes on 650 square metres near Keilor Road shops sold for between $1.1 million and $1.2 million.

A fresh batch of million-dollar postcodes are also emerging in the south-east, including Narre Warren North, Moorabbin, Huntingdale and Aspendale.

In the outer-east, Burwood East, Blackburn North, Blackburn South and Forest Hill now have a $1 million house median.

Seven bidders fought for double-storey house at 4 Romoly Drive, Forest Hill and it sold for $1,568,888 in December — a suburb record at the time, Ray White director Henry Lin said.

Wakelin Property Advisory director Paul Nugent said people looking to buy family homes might need to consider suburbs such as Werribee, otherwise townhouses could be an option closer to the CBD.

“[Werribee] has just flown beneath the radar for many years, but it probably offers a lot of value to people,” he said, adding that it offered good transport infrastructure and access to the Bellarine Peninsula, and not too far from the CBD.