Melissa Jenkins
(Australian Associated Press)
Sydney’s once fast paced property market ground to a halt in August, and prices barely moved across the nation.
Home values in Sydney and Brisbane froze in August and fell 0.7 per cent in Perth and 0.1 per cent in Adelaide, according to the latest figures from property analytics firm CoreLogic.
Melbourne was the only capital city where home values improved, lifting 0.5 per cent for the month to September 3, for annual growth of 12.5 per cent.
The average home value across the five major capital cities rose just 0.1 per cent in August, and some economists suggest the property market is starting to go off the boil.
The slowdown was consistent with a softening of building approvals, housing finance and auction clearance rates, economists at St George said.
The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) capped interest-only mortgage lending in March, forcing lenders to limit higher risk interest-only loans to 30 per cent of new residential mortgages.
St George Economics said home values had grown by an average of just 0.4 per cent a month since the APRA move, compared with 0.9 per cent in the five months prior.
Average house prices are still highest in Sydney, followed by Melbourne and then Canberra.
The cheapest city is still Hobart, where an average house costs $383,000.
On the auction front, fewer homes have been going under the hammer recently, with just over 2,000 auctions held in the week to September 3, down from 2,270 in the prior week, according to preliminary figures from CoreLogic.
The clearance rate was 70 per cent, up from 68.3 per cent in the previous week, but will likely settle in the mid to high 60 per cent range when final results are published later this week.
CAPITAL CITY PRIVATE TREATY MEDIAN PRICES
HOUSES
Sydney – $880,000
Melbourne – $700,000
Canberra – $600,000
Brisbane – $520,000
Darwin – $495,000
Perth – $486,500
Adelaide – $421,500
Hobart – $383,000
Combined capitals – $659,985
UNITS
Sydney – $697,750
Melbourne – $540,000
Canberra – $432,500
Perth – $399,500
Brisbane – $380,000
Darwin – $373,500
Adelaide – $310,000
Hobart – $290,000
Combined capitals – $564,107
Source: CoreLogic Property Market Indicator Summary week ending September 3, 2017.
