This week a friend who lives in Sydney posted a link on social media to the story of a terrace house on the market for $22m. She noted, with the exasperation that only comes from someone who lives in Sydney and wishes one day to own some property, that you could buy a castle in Europe for that much. And sure, this terrace house has a three-car garage and en suites in all four bedrooms, so it is not exactly standard. But still.

I thought of her when the latest dwelling price data was released this week by the Bureau of Statistics.

The good news is that $22m is not the median price for a house in Sydney. The bad news is that it is $1.4m. And while you might think that your friends from Sydney do go on a bit, just note that the median cost of a house in Sydney is 72% higher than in Melbourne (just a lazy extra $586,000)

If the graph does not display, click here

Over the past year though, the real surge in dwelling prices has been in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide:

If the graph does not display, click here

The average price rise in Sydney was actually less than the rise in wages. But in Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane the past year was a terrible one for affordability. But don’t worry about feeling left out – the past decade has been terrible for everyone’s ability to buy a........

© The Guardian