Australian home prices surged to a new record in May, with notable gains in Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide, according to a new report by PropTrack.
National home prices rose by 0.3% in May, bringing the year-to-date increase to 2.73% and marking a 6.68% rise from May 2023 levels.
Prices are now 9.58% higher than their December 2022 low. In the combined capital cities, prices climbed 0.41% to reach a new peak, with a 7.22% year-on-year increase.
“With housing supply unable to meet demand, national home prices have cycled through 17 consecutive months of growth to hit a fresh peak in May,” said Eleonor Creagh (pictured above), senior economist at Proptrack.
Perth saw the strongest growth, with prices jumping 0.73% in May and an impressive 20.58% over the past year. Brisbane and Adelaide also recorded significant gains, with prices rising by 0.67% and 0.53% in May, and 13.69% and 14.49% year-on-year, respectively.
“Despite a rise in the number of homes for sale this year, strong population growth, tight rental markets, and home equity gains continue to bolster strong demand,” Creagh said.
Prices in capital cities have outpaced those in regional areas over the past year.
While prices in the combined regional areas remained flat in May, regional NSW and Tasmania saw slight increases of 0.16% and 0.12%, respectively.
“This mismatch between supply and demand is continuing to offset the higher interest rate environment,” Creagh said. “Further, current interest rate stability has sustained buyer and seller confidence.”
Despite the recent gains, Creagh anticipates that the pace of growth will slow during the winter months.
“Although it is likely the pace of growth will continue slowing through the seasonally quieter winter period, particularly with interest rate cut expectations pushed out to late-2025,” she said.
With continued strong demand and constrained supply, home prices are expected to rise further in the coming months, despite some easing in population growth and increased housing stock on the market, PropTrack reported.
To compare the latest figures with the previous month’s, click here.
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