Australian property prices fall for the first time in two years
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CoreLogic records monthly national decline of 0.1%, with Sydney down 0.6% and Melbourne 0.7% in December. Australia’s property market has finally come off the boil after a resilient run of growth at a time of high interest rates and inflationary pain.
For the first time in nearly two years, CoreLogic recorded a monthly decline in national home values. The 0.1% fall in December followed a flat result in November and a gradual slowing in the pace of growth over the course of the year. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email.
The research director at the property data firm, Tim Lawless, was unsurprised by December’s negative figure. “This result represents the housing market catching up with the reality of market dynamics,” he said. After a moderate downturn in 2022, as the Reserve Bank of Australia first started hiking interest rates, home prices starting rising again even as the fight against inflation raged and the cash rate stayed elevated.
Given constrained borrowing capacity and cost-of-living pressures, Lawless said the price growth clocked between February 2023 and October 2024 was surprising. Even the mid-sized capitals, which have been logging particularly strong price growth, have been starting to slow down.
Perth eked out the biggest property price increase in December, a 0.7% gain to be a whopping 19.1% higher annually. Adelaide’s market rose 0.6% over the month, and Brisbane 0.5%. Darwin also clocked a 0.4% improvement after a lacklustre 12 months. “With worsening affordability constraints and reduced borrowing capacity, we have seen buyer demand pushed towards lower priced markets, which has, in turn, supported stronger growth conditions in these areas,” Lawless said.
