Home values continued rising through July, new data shows.
CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index rose 0.7% in July, marking a fifth consecutive month of recovery. Since finding a floor in February, the index is up 4.1%, following a 9.1% decline from record highs in April 2022.
While values are continuing to rise, the rate of growth has lost momentum over the past two months, slowing from 1.2% in May.
CoreLogic Research Director, Tim Lawless, noted the most substantial reduction in growth has occurred in Sydney.
“After leading the upswing, the monthly pace of growth in Sydney housing values has halved from a recent high of 1.8% in May to 0.9% in July”, Lawless said.
“Sydney has also seen a significant rise in the number of fresh listings added to the market, 9.9% higher than the same time last year and 18.0% above the previous five-year average. An increased flow of new listings provides more choice and may be working to reduce some of the urgency felt among prospective buyers,” he added.
Brisbane and Adelaide saw the pace of growth accelerate in July, leading gains across the capitals with housing values up 1.4% across both cities. Although the trend in new listings has risen in these cities, the number remains well below levels from a year ago and the previous five-year average.
Canberra was the only capital city to record a decline in values in July, down 0.1%, while Hobart values were unchanged.
The slowdown in value growth has mostly been driven by an easing in gains across the upper quartile of the market. While growth in the upper quartile of the combined capitals index diminished from 1.8% in May to 0.7% in July, the rest of the market remained resilient in July, following a smaller, but more consistent rate of growth over previous months.
“Some resilience in growth across the middle and more affordable end of the market aligns with housing finance data which has shown a stronger bounce back in the value of lending to first home buyers and investors over recent months”, Lawless said.
“These segments tend to be more active across the middle to lower end of the pricing range where competition to purchase a home may be more intense.”
Regional values continued to lag behind the capitals with the combined regionals index rising 0.2% in July, reflecting milder housing demand across regional Australia as demographic patterns normalise.
The flow of new listings lifted by 3.9% over July, bucking the usual seasonal trend where new listings would generally reduce through winter. Most of the capitals recorded a rise in the number of fresh listings through July, although Sydney was the only city where the flow of fresh stock to market was higher than a year ago (to be up by 9.9%).
Lawless speculated there may be a few reasons why vendors are becoming more active at a time that is normally seasonally subdued.
“The flow of new listings has held at below average levels since September last year”, he said.
“With total stock levels still low and selling conditions reasonably strong, it may be the case that more home owners are picking current market conditions as a good time to sell, rather than waiting until spring when stock levels might be higher, creating more competition among vendors.
“Another possibility is that we are seeing the first signs of motivated selling as the rapid rate hiking cycle catches up with household balance sheets.”
Although new listings have trended higher, overall capital city advertised stock levels remain low, tracking 18.3% below the same time last year and 23.3% below the previous five-year average.
“The fact that total stock levels are still trending lower implies demand is keeping up with the increased flow of new listings coming to market”, Lawless concluded.
