See the Land Value Under Any Australian Property
Microburbs now shows you the land-building split for 7.5 million properties across every state and territory. To our knowledge, this is the first time property-level land value data has been freely available outside NSW and ACT.
Contents
1. Why this matters for you
When you buy a property, part of your money goes to the land and part goes to the building. The land holds its value over time. The building ages and eventually needs replacing. Whether you are buying, renovating, or assessing development potential, knowing the split between land and building changes the decision.
Until now, this information was only available in NSW (via the Valuer General) and the ACT. If you were buying in Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, or Adelaide, there was no practical way to find out. Microburbs now provides this for every state and territory.
2. What we estimated
Microburbs Research built a system that estimates the land-building split for 7.5 million Australian properties. The system uses neighbourhood density, household income, lot size, terrain, and building characteristics to predict what share of a property’s price is attributable to the land.
The estimates were calibrated against 150,000 vacant land sales across all states. For a vacant block, the sale price is the land value. Calibrating against these sales confirmed the system produces consistent estimates across all eight states and territories.
Scale: 7,477,283 unique properties estimated. 7,108 suburbs with 10 or more estimates. Every state and territory covered.
3. National results
| State | Properties | Median Price | Est. Land Value | Land Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | 2,325,584 | $900,000 | $567,000 | 61% |
| VIC | 1,726,066 | $740,000 | $430,000 | 57% |
| QLD | 1,778,758 | $640,000 | $349,000 | 53% |
| WA | 817,645 | $550,000 | $292,000 | 53% |
| SA | 535,141 | $590,000 | $325,000 | 56% |
| ACT | 146,347 | $845,000 | $465,000 | 53% |
| TAS | 103,095 | $560,000 | $271,000 | 49% |
| NT | 44,647 | $510,000 | $277,000 | 56% |
NSW leads at 61% land share, driven by Sydney’s high land values. Tasmania has the lowest (49%), consistent with lower incomes and more affordable land.
4. Land value per square metre
The dollar-per-square-metre figure strips away property size and isolates the raw value of the location. This is the number that matters most for development feasibility.
| Suburb | City | Land $/sqm | Land Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mosman | Sydney | $5,630 | 78% |
| Toorak | Melbourne | $5,154 | 76% |
| Adelaide CBD | Adelaide | $3,911 | 72% |
| Fremantle | Perth | $1,892 | 68% |
| Blacktown | Sydney | $924 | 63% |
| Point Cook | Melbourne | $806 | 49% |
| Dianella | Perth | $690 | 61% |
| Dubbo | Regional NSW | $229 | 37% |
| Broken Hill | Far West NSW | $28 | 10% |
The range spans from $5,630/sqm in Mosman (Sydney) to $28/sqm in Broken Hill (Far West NSW). A 200x difference that shows the range of land values across Australia.
5. What it means for development
Land value per square metre is a useful starting point for assessing development feasibility, alongside zoning, site constraints, and build costs. A knockdown-rebuild is more likely to make financial sense when land accounts for 70%+ of the property value. Below that threshold, you are destroying real value when you demolish.
To illustrate: in Mosman (Sydney) at $5,630/sqm, demolishing a $200,000 house to build a $1.5 million home on $1.3 million of land is a simpler decision. In Point Cook (Melbourne) at $806/sqm, demolishing a $370,000 house sitting on $395,000 of land destroys nearly half the property’s value. Renovation is the smarter play.
6. Does land value predict growth?
We tested extensively whether land value, land share, or land value per square metre predicts future property price growth. Using millions of repeat sales across 7,896 suburbs from 2000 to 2023, the answer is clear: no.
We tested five consecutive forward-looking windows (2002-2007 predicting 2007-2012, and so on through 2012-2017 predicting 2017-2022). In every period, the correlation between past land value growth and future property price growth was near zero or slightly negative.
We also tested whether land value growth is persistent from one period to the next. It is not. Suburbs whose land values grew fastest in one five-year period tended to grow slightly slower in the next, consistent with markets levelling out over time.
The honest conclusion: Land value is a descriptive tool, not a crystal ball. It tells you what you are paying for right now. It tells you whether a knockdown makes sense. It tells you the base value of a location. It does not tell you which suburbs will outperform.
7. Accuracy and confidence
Each estimate comes with a confidence range. We validated the system in two ways:
- Against vacant land sales: For 150,000 vacant blocks sold across all states from 2021 onwards, the system’s estimates were within 0.1% of the expected value (the sale price is the land value for a vacant block).
- Against ACT government data: For 114 ACT suburbs with actual government unimproved values, the median difference between our estimates and the official values was 14.1%.
Estimates are most reliable for standard houses in metropolitan areas. For unusual properties (farms, large acreage, steep terrain), the confidence range is wider.
8. Limitations
- These are estimates, not official valuations. Outside NSW and ACT, there is no government data to validate against at the property level.
- A point in time. Land values change with market conditions. These estimates reflect the market as at early 2026.
- Building quality is partially captured. The system uses lot size, bedrooms, bathrooms, and neighbourhood characteristics. It does not directly observe building condition, age, or renovation status for most properties.
Every Microburbs property report now includes the estimated land value, land-building split, and land value per square metre. Suburb reports show the suburb-level median and how it compares to neighbours.