RICH pickings

Australia's millionaire property owners are increasing rapidly. According to latest market intelligence from RP Data, the number of suburbs with a median house price of A$1 million (HK$8.14 million) grew by 35 per cent last year, reaching 212 in December - 55 more than a year earlier, and 134 more than in 2005.

The increase at the higher end came in a year when sales overall were sluggish, and capital city house values rose by just 4.7 per cent, according to the data. It shows that investing in luxury pays, asserts Cameron Kusher, RP Data research analyst. 'These results highlight not only that demand and price growth have been strong for premium property, but that residents are prepared to pay the hefty price to secure a property in a premium location,' he says.

Of the million-dollar suburbs, 56 per cent were in the New South Wales capital, Sydney, and 20 per cent in Melbourne, Victoria.

Kusher sees this as a continuing trend. 'Over the past five years, the premium sector has typically fared quite well [outside of 2008] and has recorded strong growth in property values.'

Sydney claims the lion's share of Australia's blue-chip real estate. It has 14 suburbs with median house prices in excess of A$2 million, including Vaucluse and Bellevue Hill - average price well above A$3 million - compared with Melbourne's two, Toorak and Kooyong.

However, neither can claim the most expensive suburb in Australia: that title belongs to Peppermint Grove in Perth, Western Australia, with a reported average price of A$4.6 million.