Australian Bureau Of Statistics

Property Prices Fall 2.4% In The December Quarter 2018

Victor P Taffa

Residential property prices fell 2.4 % in the December quarter 2018, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

“Australia’s two largest cities continue to lead the fall in property prices. These falls follow a period of solid growth, where prices in Sydney rose 68 % and Melbourne rose 54 %, over the 5 years to December quarter 2017.” ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said.

 

Sydney property prices fell 3.7 % in the December quarter 2018 and have continued to fall since September quarter 2017, while Melbourne property prices recorded the fourth consecutive quarter of falls (-2.4 %).

“While property prices are falling in most capital cities, a tightening in credit supply and reduced demand from investors and owner occupiers have had a more pronounced effect on the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne.” Mr. Hockman said

Through the year growth in residential property prices fell 5.1 % in the December quarter 2018.

Falls were recorded in:

• Sydney (-7.8 %),
• Melbourne (-6.4 %),
• Darwin (-3.5 %),
• Perth (-2.5 %),
• Brisbane (-0.3 %).

Total value of Australia’s 10.3 Million residential dwellings fell by $133.1 Billion to $6.7 Trillion. The mean price of dwellings in Australia is now $651,100.

This issue includes updated weighting patterns for the suite of residential property price indexes and the total value of residential dwellings using data from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.