Australian house prices rise at slowest pace since January 2025
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The news: Cotality’s national home value index lifted 0.3% in April, marking the gauge’s slowest pace of growth since early 2025, as Sydney and Melbourne home prices dragged down the national result.
The numbers: Values in Sydney and Melbourne fell 0.6% during the month, with Sydney home values now 1% below their November peak. Melbourne values have fallen 1.9% below their peak in November 2025 and are 2.3% below the March 2022 spike.
Perth was an outperformer, achieving 2.1% growth during April, while Brisbane, Adelaide and Darwin also saw 1% month-on-month growth.
The context: Cotality’s research director, Tim Lawless, said the easing in market conditions has been building since late last year. “The housing market was losing momentum from late last year as affordability and serviceability constraints weighed on demand. Now we have the additional downside pressure of higher interest rates, sentiment has fallen off a cliff, and rising inflation is set to drive the cost of debt even higher.”
The research found that the softening housing conditions have been accompanied by a slowdown in buyer demand. Estimates of capital city home sales over the past three months were 5.4% lower than one year prior and 7.4% below the previous five-year average.
The data comes just days ahead of the RBA’s May meeting, where the central bank is expected to hike rates to tame inflation.
The source: Cotality May Home Value Index
