Sydney median house price surpasses London, catching New York: figures

Sydney's median house price has topped the 1-million-Australian dollar threshold for the first time, according to figures released by real estate advertising group Domain on Thursday.

Growth over the June quarter saw Sydney home prices leap 8.4 percent to hit 1,000,616 Australian dollars (737,330 U.S. dollars), 22.9 percent for over the year, surpassing median prices in London and drawing closer to New York.

Domain said that is the fastest annual pace of gain since at least the late-1980s, outdoing the property price boom of the early-2000s.

Sydney prices are also a long way above Australia's other capital cities, with Melbourne houses the next most expensive at 668,030 Australian dollars (429,281 U.S. dollars), and Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart all substantially lower.

Domain senior economist Andrew Wilson said the difference is Sydney's chronic under-supply of housing.

"I'm not sure that we'll ever catch up, even though we are seeing significant levels of new housing coming through, I just don't think we're going to be able to catch up and that will mean always upward pressure on prices," Wilson told Australia's national broadcaster on Thursday.

The Property Council of Australia told local media on Thursday Sydney home-buyers were being hit on two fronts, with high property prices and therefore higher government transaction tax and stamp duty bills.

"We know the average stamp duty bill in Sydney has increased by 750 percent over the last 20 years, and is poised to accelerate further with rising house prices," the council's NSW executive director Glenn Byres said.

While Sydney prices have surged, some capitals, notably Perth, house prices are contracting.

The end of the mining boom in Western Australia is seeing rapidly slowing population growth, falling rents and now declining house and unit prices. Endi