Average residential property prices in Australia’s capital cities increased by 1.9% during the June quarter this year, according to the most recent figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
Prices rose in all capital cities except for Perth and Darwin with growth strongest in Sydney and Melbourne. Annually, residential property prices rose by 10.2% between the June quarter last year and the same time period this year.
“Residential property prices, while continuing to rise in Melbourne and Sydney this quarter, have begun to moderate. Annual price movements ranged from -4.9% in Darwin to +13.8% in Sydney and Melbourne. These results highlight the diverse housing market and economic conditions in Australia's capital cities,” said ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman.
This most recent quarterly growth was slightly under the 2.2% recorded in the March quarter but significantly lower than the 4.1% found in the December quarter last year.
Housing Industry Association (HIA) senior economist
Shane Garrett warned that this further growth could create problems in the housing market.
“The bottom line is that unabated price increases are putting the dream of home ownership beyond the reach of more and more Australians. The ultimate solution to the affordability challenge is to make the delivery of our future housing stock easier and less costly. More flexibility in housing supply is the answer,” he said.
Separate quarterly and annual price changes for each capital city can be found below:
| |
Quarterly growth |
Annual growth |
| Melbourne |
3.0% |
13.8% |
| Sydney |
2.3% |
13.8% |
| Hobart |
1.8% |
12.4% |
| Canberra |
1.3% |
7.9% |
| Adelaide |
0.8% |
5.0% |
| Brisbane |
0.6% |
3.0% |
| Perth |
-0.8% |
-3.1% |
| Darwin |
-1.4% |
-4.9% |
| Capital city average |
1.9% |
10.2% |
Over the quarter, the total value of Australia’s 9.9 million dwellings rose by $145.9bn to $6.7trn while the mean price increased by $12,100 to $679,100.
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