Sydney house prices near 1m Australian dollar average

Australia's median house price has risen to almost 660,000 Australian dollars (509,919 U.S. dollars), with Sydney leading housing market, according to Real Estate Institute data released Friday.

The Real Estate Institute of Australia (REIA) figures show the median house price in Sydney has gained 4.9 percent in the March quarter to 929,842 Australian dollars (718,400 U.S. dollars), significantly above next closest Melbourne at 688,000 Australian dollars (531,446 U.S. dollars).

REIA president Neville Sanders told local media the median house price has increased by almost 9 percent from the same period last year, and is expected to continue to rise over the rest of 2015.

"In 2015 we expect interest rates to stay low and growth in dwelling prices to continue, however changes to rules around foreign investment in Australian residential real estate may change the dynamic on the market," Sanders said.

Housing affordability has been a significant issue in Australian media over the past fortnight when Australian Treasury secretary John Fraser told an Australian Senate committee hearing that property markets in Sydney and parts of Melbourne were unequivocally in a price bubble.

On Wednesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) governor Glen Stevens described housing prices in pockets of the Australian market as "crazy" and "acutely concerning for a host of reasons, many of which are not to do with monetary policy".