Home values around Australia continue to rise despite some disruption from lockdowns, a new report shows.
CoreLogic’s national index has revealed that values rose 1.5% in August. This is the lowest monthly rise since January, yet remains well above average.
All capital cities except Darwin recorded a rise through the month. Sydney was up 1.8%, Melbourne 1.2%, Brisbane 2.0%, Adelaide 1.9%, Hobart 2.3%, and Canberra 2.2%. Values fell marginally (0.1%) in Darwin.
Over the past twelve months, all capitals have seen considerable growth, with Sydney up 20.9%, Melbourne 13.1%, Brisbane 18.3%, Adelaide 17.9%, Hobart 24.5%, Canberra 26.8%, and Darwin 29.0%.
The August update takes values 15.8% higher over the first eight months of the year and 18.4% above levels a year ago.
In dollar terms, the annual increase in national dwelling values equates to approximately $103,400, or $1,990 per week.
CoreLogic’s research director Tim Lawless said that this is the fastest annual pace of growth in housing values since the year ending July 1989.
“Through the late 1980’s, the annual pace of national home value appreciation was as high as 31%, so the market isn’t quite in unprecedented territory’, he noted.
“The annual growth rate at the moment is trending higher, in fact, it is 3.6 times higher than the thirty-year average rate of annual growth.
“It’s likely the ongoing shortage of properties available for purchase is central to the upwards pressure on housing values”, he added.
Capital city houses are continuing to record stronger growth rate relative to units, however the gap does appear to be narrowing. Throughout the first quarter of the year, capital city house values were rising approximately 1.1 percentage points faster than units each month. By August the average performance gap reduced to 0.7 percentage points.
Lawless believes the convergence of growth in house values and unit values could be another demonstration of affordability becoming more challenging.
