Brisbane was Australia’s second-most expensive capital city last month, new figures show.
Data released by CoreLogic this week has revealed that home values rose 0.8% in May. This was the 16th consecutive month of growth and the largest monthly gain since October last year.
The mid-sized capitals continued to lead the pace of growth, with Perth values up 2.0% in May, Adelaide rising 1.8% and Brisbane up 1.4%.
In dollar terms, it’s the equivalent of the median dwelling value rising by more than $12,000 month-to-month in each city.
The other capital cities recorded milder conditions, ranging from a 0.6% lift in Sydney values to a decline of 0.5% in Hobart and a 0.3% fall in Darwin.
According to CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless, extremely low levels of available supply across the strongest markets provide the best explanation for the difference in growth rates.
“The number of properties available for sale in Perth and Adelaide remain more than 40% below the five-year average for this time of the year, while Brisbane listings are 34% below average”, Lawless said.
“Inventory levels in these markets remain well below average despite vendor activity lifting relative to this time last year.
“Fresh listings are being absorbed rapidly by market demand, keeping stock levels low and upwards pressure on prices.”
With Brisbane housing values consistently posting solid capital gains while ACT values remain relatively stable, Brisbane overtook Canberra as having the second-highest median dwelling value across the capitals in May, a position Brisbane hasn’t recorded since 1997.
Brisbane house values are now also higher than the median house value across Melbourne, for the first time since June 2008.
Coming into the pandemic Melbourne’s median dwelling value held around a 37% premium over Brisbane’s, and ACT’s median was approximately 24% higher. However, Brisbane values have increased at more than five times the pace of Melbourne values since the onset of COVID, with growth of 59.8% and 11.2% respectively. Brisbane has also substantially outpaced growth in the ACT where values are up 31.8% since March 2020.
The Sydney market also reached a new milestone in May with a nominal recovery, equalling the earlier record high set in January 2022. Sydney dwelling values dropped by 12.4% following the January 2022 peak, but he market has since posted a 14.1% rise through the cycle to-date.
Upper quartile home values have generally shown the lowest rate of growth over the past year. This trend is apparent across every capital city except Darwin, demonstrating stronger conditions across the more affordable price points of the market.
Across the combined capitals index, upper quartile dwelling values are up 6.7% over the past 12 months, compared with a 13.4% gain across the lower quartile of the market.
