Housing prices slow down across major cities, Sydney records first decline in 17 months

• Growth in Australian housing values has slowed down as Sydney records its first decline in 17 months, According to CoreLogic
• CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index (HVI) reported a 0.6 per cent gain in February, the 17th consecutive monthly increase in the national HVI
• Sydney and Melbourne has shown the sharpest slowdown, with Sydney seeing a decline of 0.1 per cent, the first time since September 2020
• Since the pandemic started in March 2020, Australian housing values have risen 24.6 per cent, adding on average, roughly $144,000 to the value of an Australian dwelling

Growth in Australian housing values has slowed down as Sydney records its first decline in 17 months, According to CoreLogic.

CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index (HVI) reported a 0.6 per cent gain in February, the 17th consecutive monthly increase in the national HVI.

However, the growth is not going as fast as it was, with the HVI trending downwards since April last year.

February’s growth of 0.6 per cent marks the lowest monthly growth reading since October 2020 and is down from 1.1 per cent in January and a cyclical peak of 2.8 per cent in March 2021.

Sydney and Melbourne have shown the sharpest slowdown, with Sydney seeing a decline of 0.1 per cent, the first decline since September 2020.

While Melbourne was unchanged over the month, with similar results in December and January.

“Conditions are easing less noticeably across the smaller capitals, especially Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, where housing values rose by more than one per cent in February,” CoreLogic’s director of research Tim Lawless said.

“Similarly, regional markets have been somewhat insulated to slowing growth conditions, with five of the six rest-of-state regions continuing to record monthly gains in excess of
1.2 per cent.”

There have been stronger housing market conditions in Brisbane and Adelaide, with Brisbane housing up 7.2 per cent over the past three months to February, while Adelaide is up 6.4 per cent over the same period.

Regional Australia also continues to record a substantially higher rate of growth than the capital cities.

Over the past three months, housing values across the combined rest-of-state region increased at more than three times the speed of housing values across the combined capital cities.

“Regional housing markets aren’t immune from the higher cost of debt as fixed-term mortgage rates rise. These markets are also increasingly impacted by worsening affordability constraints as housing prices consistently outpace incomes,” Mr Lawless said.

“However, demographic tailwinds, low inventory levels and ongoing demand for coastal or treechange housing options are continuing to support strong upwards price pressures across regional housing markets.”

Since the pandemic started in March 2020, Australian housing values have risen 24.6 per cent, adding on average, roughly $144,000 to the value of an Australian dwelling.