Home value drop signals weak 2018
Sydney has become the country’s biggest drag on house price growth figures.
The CoreLogic December Hedonic Home Value Index has revealed a 0.3% national decline in house prices in the month of December. Prices were down 0.4% across capital cities, led by 0.9% monthly declines in both Sydney and Darwin.
CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said soft housing conditions were likely to continue throughout 2018.
“From a macro perspective, late 2016 marked a peak in the pace of capital gains across Australia, with national dwelling values rising at a rolling quarterly pace of 3.7% over the three months to November,” Lawless said. “In 2017 we saw growth rates and transactional activity gradually lose steam, with national month-on-month capital gains slowing to 0% in October and November before turning negative in December.”
Most properties still selling for a profit
House prices also fell for the quarter, edging down 0.5%. The result marks the first quarterly decline for capital gains since the three months ending April 2016.
Home values were up 4.2% on an annual basis. However, the result was down on the 5.8% growth home values saw in 2016, and 9.2% growth for 2015.
While Sydney and Darwin were the weakest performing capital cities for the month, Melbourne and Perth also saw declines, with values falling 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively. Hobart was the best performing capital city, posting a 1.5% rise for the month.
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