How Gen X has won the generational capital gains race – John McGrath

As we head into summer, sellers are continuing to enjoy strong capital gains.

The latest Cotality Home Value Index (HVI) indicates that not only are national home values still increasing, but the pace of this growth has also accelerated. The 1.1% national gain in October pushed the annual pace of growth to 6.1% nationally and is the fastest monthly gain since June 2023.

Most sellers will enjoy property growth to some degree. But I believe that Generation (Gen) X will benefit most from this.

In our newly released 2026 McGrath Report, we explore the rise of Gen X, as they emerge as the clear overall capital gains winner in the Australian generational real estate race. Born between 1965 and 1979 – and therefore, now aged 46- 60 – Gen X also has the largest housing portfolio of any generation.

This is particularly impressive given that Gen X is often called the “sandwich generation” – thanks to their increasingly common position of looking after senior parents, who are living longer, while their children are not leaving home either.

There are several reasons why Gen X home owners are enjoying such an excellent property position. One of these is that unlike Millennials – those now aged 29-44 – Gen Xers were able to purchase property at affordable prices.

According to Cotality, a GenXer who purchased a property when they were 25, or in 1997, could have bought for a median of $126,728. Such extraordinary prices – at least by today’s standards – continued for most of the 1990s, effectively enabling Gen Xers to purchase an average property for six times the average annual income. In comparison, by the late 2000s, Millennials were facing a ten times ratio which crippled their home ownership aspirations– and continues to do so today.

Gen Xers also not only missed Australia’s highest cash rate on record in January 1990 but benefited from falling interest rates during the mid-1990s. And, prices turned in their favour again from the early 2000s.

As a result, Cotality research shows Gen X home buyers who bought at 25 have today collected a very tidy $528,182 capital gain, thanks to that property being worth a $654,910 median in mid-2025. This is higher than the $405,472 capital gain earned by a 25-year-old Millennial, buying in 2013, and the $456,243 earned by a 25-year-old Baby Boomer purchasing in 1980.

Gen Xers will also be the first generation to benefit from mandatory superannuation when they retire. And, Millennials aren’t the only ones to potentially benefit from the Bank of Mum and Dad either. Gen Xers are predicted to benefit from an increasing inheritance windfall, which is set to rise from a current $120 billion annual figure to $500 billion per annum nationwide over the next 25 years.

Cotality’s HVI report this month shows tight advertised supply levels and above average demand levels continues to skew conditions towards sellers. And, while they have eased a little, auction clearance rates have also held above the decade average — in the high 60% to low 70% range since the start of Spring.