melb median tops $600,000 - 1st time ever, page-18

Statistics should always be read in context...

The average house price only relates to houses that have been sold .. so if you average out all the house prices in Melbourne (make an appraisal of each and every house)the average house price may in fact only be $450,000.

to my way of thinking ..currently the higher interest rates means we have fewer first home buyers and the demand for cheaper first homes has therefore become relatively subdued - compared to even 6 months ago - this will logically skew the statistics towards the higher end of the home market as there's relatively more of the higher end houses being sold now as a result.

So I suggest house prices have not risen in the last quarter of 2010 - as the bulls would have it - but what's happened is that there's less of the cheaper first homes now being sold... which would have acted to bring the average house price down 6 months ago.

I live in Melbourne and own property in Melbourne .. but I
like to call a spade a spade.

And I repeat again we are only talking about houses being sold - the average price of a house in Melbourne is not $600,000 - it's probably closer to $450 k .