Dwelling values in Australia have dropped by -7.9% over the past 12 months – the largest annual decline on record, according to CoreLogic’s Monthly Housing Chart Pack for February 2023.
Eliza Owen (pictured above), head of research at CoreLogic Australia, said that despite a large annual decline in home values, the monthly pace of decline substantially eased over February to just -0.1%.
Residential real estate in Australia had a total value of $9.3 trillion at the end of the month, an increase from $9.2 trillion in the previous month but well below the peak of $10 trillion in April.
Regional South Australia delivered the highest annual growth rate in dwelling values across the regional and capital city dwelling markets, with values lifting 13.2% in the past year, while the lowest change in home values was across Sydney, where home values fell -13.4% in the last 12 months.
CoreLogic also reported that sales volumes continued to trend lower as buyer demand slows, with national sales falling -21.2% to 486,620 compared to the previous year.
Properties were taking longer to sell nationally. In the three months to February, the median days on market was 41, up from a low of 20 days in the three months to November 2021.
The national median vendor discounting rate expanded through 2022, although it contracted slightly in the three months to February compared to the three months to January.
The housing chart pack also showed that the volume of new listings totalled 38,479 nationally in the four weeks to March 5, while new listings have seen a seasonal lift but were still -12.7% lower than the previous five-year average.
Over the same period, the combined capital cities clearance rate averaged 65.8%. And while this was a much stronger result compared to the average 55.1% in the final weeks of 2022, auction volumes remained low relative to where they were this time last year.
Annual growth in rent values remained steady compared to the previous month in February, at 10.1%. Australian rent values grew annually by a record 10.2% in the 12 months to December. Unit rents across Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, saw the most rapid annual rise, with rents rising around 14 to 17% annually.
Hobart saw a turn in the tide of supply, with monthly listings volumes 73.4% higher than a year ago, as properties take longer to sell, and listings volumes move toward the decade average, the chart of the month showed.
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