Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra have all broken through the median $1 million mark and Brisbane’s median was now $855,000, according to Ray White economist Nerida Conisbee.

“Price growth is expected to continue for the remainder of the year,” she said.

“Although we may see a Melbourne Cup rate rise, a lack of properties continues to be a challenge for buyers.

“We saw a jump in listings in late winter however this has failed to continue and spring has been far slower than expected for properties coming to market.

“In addition, potential new home buyers are being pushed into the established home market and strong rental increases are making renting far less attractive.

“Meanwhile, the (nationwide) unit market is moving a bit slower, perhaps driven by greater ownership by investors.”

However, units in Brisbane have a median price of $549,000, up 8.3 per cent.

“The median is well in excess of the 2022 peak and prices are overall up over the month, however we did see a slightly decline in the strongest markets of Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Darwin.

“However, Adelaide remains the strongest market for units on a year-on-year basis, while Hobart, a city that has too few units, saw the biggest jump over the month.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia said bold action was needed to address the housing shortage and said phasing out stamp duty would conservatively introduce an additional 4 per cent of listings back into the sales market.