This article is from the Australian Property Journal archive
HOBART and Adelaide were the only capital cities able to withstand the national median house price fall over the December quarter, which marked the biggest drop since the last three months of 2011.
According to the Real Estate Institute of Australia’s Real Estate Market Facts, the weighted average median price for houses for the eight capital cities decreased to $733,438, and for other dwellings to $570,905.
Melbourne had the largest fall in house prices, while Perth had the largest fall in other dwellings.
Adelaide has the lowest median house price at $475,000 and Darwin the lowest median price for other dwellings at $350,000.
“Interestingly, in NSW median prices for both houses and other dwellings prices have declined in both regional and urban areas,” REIA president Adrian Kelly said.
“In Victoria, however, they have declined only in Melbourne with the regional areas of Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat still recording strong price growth.”
Median rent for three-bedroom houses increased in all capital cities except for Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, where they remained steady.
Rent for two-bedroom other dwellings increased in Canberra and Hobart, were steady in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and fell in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin. Hobart had the largest increase, and Sydney the largest decrease.
Vacancies across the eight capital cities remained steady at 2.6% over the quarter, and were down by just 0.1 percentage point over 12 months. All capital cities except Darwin have a vacancy rate below 3.0% benchmark, which Kelly said indicates strong demand for rental accommodation.
Darwin’s vacancy rate of 8.2% is 1.9 percentage points higher year-on-year.
Australian Property Journal
