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ISCOVER
Staff Reporter
Australia’s capital cities’ home values fell throughout the month of December, according to new research.
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The latest RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Daily Home Value Index results show that across the country’s eight capital cities, home values declined by 0.3 per cent.
The decline was caused largely by the performance of the unit market, which fell by 1.1 per cent over the month, in contrast with the detached housing market which only declined by 0.1 per cent.
The strongest performing capital city over the month of December was Melbourne where values increased by 0.5 per cent. Values also rose in Adelaide (0.1 per cent) and Perth (0.3 per cent).
Darwin, which was the standout market throughout 2012, experienced a fall in home values of 2.5 per cent in December. Monthly value falls were also recorded in Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra.
According to RP Data's senior research analyst Cameron Kusher, we have now seen two successive years of annual value declines. The annual rate of declines, however, has improved substantially.
“Capital city home values remain 5.7 per cent lower than their historic highs of November 2010; however, dwelling values are up 1.8 per cent from their low of late May 2012,” he said.
“It is important to note that despite the fact that standard variable mortgage rates have fallen an average of 85 basis points over the past year and 135 basis points since October [2011], the housing market has still been unable to record growth in values over the year.
“Home values remain below their historic highs across each capital city and have increased at an average annual rate of just 1.9 per cent over the past five years. It is clear that the previous strong value growth conditions to which many home owners became accustomed of recent years are well and truly behind us.
“Home values in Brisbane, Perth and Hobart remain below where they were five years ago, whereas the other mainland cities have all recorded significantly lower rates of growth in home values over the past five years than they did over the preceding five year period,” Mr Kusher said.
