Yahoo Finance Property prices fall with premium houses taking the hit
Australia’s property values have taken another major hit.
Aussie property prices fell another 1 per cent in January, with prices in capital cities falling 9.6 per cent since their April 2022 peak.
And it’s the premium properties taking the biggest price hits, according to CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index, where the country's most expensive properties have led both the upswing and the current downturn.
Sydney’s median dwelling value dropped below $1 million for the first time since March 2021, falling 1.2 per cent in January, an improvement on December’s 1.4 per cent decline.
Also read: Property pals: Young Australians consider buying a home with friends
Also read: Property hotspots: 24 postcodes first home buyers are snapping up
Also read: Falling house prices a ‘double-edged sword’ for first home buyers
CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said, despite the downturn, the price falls did appear to be easing.
“The quarterly trend in housing values is clearly pointing to a reduction in the pace of decline across most regions. However, a 1 per cent decline over the month and 3.2 per cent decline over the rolling quarter, national housing values are still falling quite rapidly compared to previous downturns,” Lawless said.
No capital city was immune to the January decline, with the biggest price drops in Hobart and Brisbane - down 1.7 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively. The smallest drops were recorded in Perth (down 0.3 per cent) and Darwin (down 0.1 per cent).
Through January, regional housing values showed an easing rate of decline compared to the capital cities.
The milder decline comes after a substantially stronger upswing. Across the combined non-capital city areas of Australia, housing values surged 41.6 per cent higher through the upswing compared with a 25.5 per cent rise in values across the combined capital cities.
Since peaking in June, the combined regionals index is down 7.4 per cent, while capital city values are now down 9.6 per cent below their April 2022 peak.
“Despite easing rates of internal migration and a partial erosion of the pre-pandemic affordability advantage, regional housing values are holding up better than capital city markets,” Lawless said.
"This will be an interesting trend to watch over the longer term, but at the moment it seems regional housing markets have seen a structural shift in the underlying demand profile. With more Australians willing to base themselves outside of the capital cities, and remote working remaining a viable option across some sectors of the labour force, it’s unlikely we’ll see a mass exodus from regional markets.”
Follow Yahoo Finance on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter, and subscribe to our free daily newsletter.
