Over the year to date, national dwelling values are down 1.9%, however, the weakest performing cities have been Sydney and Melbourne where dwelling values were previously rising the fastest, but have now fallen 3.5% and 3.3% respectively over the first eight months of the year.  Considering the sheer size of the cities; Sydney and Melbourne comprise approximately 60% of Australia’s housing market by value, and 40% by number, the weaker performance in these cities has a significant drag down effect on the combined capitals and national reading of the market.

The overall housing market weakness is heavily concentrated across the premium sector of the market.  CoreLogic recorded a 5.4% fall in values across the upper quartile of the combined capitals over the past twelve months, while the broad middle of the market is down 0.5% over the year and the most inexpensive quartile has recorded a 0.6% rise in values.

The trend towards more robust housing market conditions for affordable properties can be seen geographically as well, with the top ten capital city sub-regions, based on an annual capital gain, generally located in more affordable areas such as Hobart, the outskirts of Melbourne and parts of Brisbane and Adelaide.   On the other hand, the weakest performing sub-regions are primarily located across Sydney as well as Melbourne’s prestigious Inner East.

Stronger market conditions across Australia’s more affordable areas are likely attributable to a rise of first home buyers in the market as well as changing credit policies focused on reducing exposure to high debt-to-income ratios.

Transcript: Australian Housing Market Update: September 2018 (Word, 20kb)

Take a look at the national update or your capital city update by clicking on the relevant link below:

• National
• Sydney
• Brisbane
• Melbourne
• Adelaide
• Perth