Home value drop signals weak 2018
Sydney has become the country’s biggest drag on house price growth figures.
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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