National home values fall 0.4% in June as Sydney leads declines: Cotality
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The news: Cotality’s national Home Value Index fell 0.4% in June, marking the largest monthly decline since December 2022, according to the property tracking company.
The context: The national decline was driven by a 1.2% fall in Sydney home values, followed by Melbourne, down 1%, and the ACT down 0.6%.
Cotality said the June quarter marked a significant shift in Australia’s housing market, with capital city home values falling 1.3% over the quarter. Sydney led the declines, down 3.2%, followed by Melbourne, down 2.6%, while ACT values fell 1.3%.
Other housing indicators also weakened, with auction clearance rates, home sales and property listings pointing to softer market conditions. The combined capital city auction clearance rate has remained below 50% since the last week of May, falling into the low-40% range in late June.
Regional markets continued to outperform the capitals, with the combined regional index rising 0.3% in June and 1.1% over the quarter. However, Cotality said the pace of growth is also slowing across regional Australia.
What they said: “Weaker conditions through the second quarter of the year are attributable to an array of downside factors,” Cotality research director Tim Lawless said.
“Even before interest rates rose by seventy-five basis points, we were seeing affordability hurdles weighing on buyer demand. Higher cost-of-living pressures, deeply pessimistic sentiment and a further dampening of demand via property taxation changes announced in the federal budget are all contributing to weaker housing conditions,” he added.
The source: Cotality media release
