Australian housing prices have increased for the 22nd month in a row but the market appears to be losing steam after its weakest result since the run of consecutive monthly growth began.
The home value index compiled by the data group CoreLogic showed housing prices rose by a modest 0.1% in November – its weakest Australia-wide result since January 2023.
Last month the national median house price was $812,933. It was $1,196,809 in Sydney, $776,949 in Melbourne, $886,540 in Brisbane and $813,716 in Adelaide.
November could be the last month of growth in this “cycle”, according to CoreLogic’s research director, Tim Lawless.
“The mid-sized capitals and most of the regional … markets continue to provide some support for growth in the national index,” Lawless said. “But it is clear momentum is also leaving these markets.”
Lawless said the downturn was gathering speed in Melbourne and Sydney and the market in the mid-sized capitals – which have experienced the highest growth – was also slowing down.
Rents increased in every capital city in November, with the national rental index rising by 0.2%.
CoreLogic considers rental market to be experiencing a “relatively flat run of growth”, even though rents are still rising at more than twice the pre-pandemic decade average of 2%.
Overall, the Australia-wide price of rental properties has increased by 5.3% over the past 12 months.
A year ago rents were increasing at the annual rate of 8.1%, according to the CoreLogic report.
“It will be interesting to see if the rate of rental growth rebounds through the seasonally strong first quarter of the year in 2025,” Lawless said. “But beyond any seasonality, it looks increasingly like the rental boom is over.”
House prices fell in Melbourne, Darwin, Sydney and Canberra in November, with the Victorian capital experiencing the biggest drop at -0.4%.
House prices have decreased in Melbourne in over 10 of the past 12 months, according to CoreLogic, falling by 2.3% overall.
House prices fell in Sydney for a second month in a row in November, dropping by 0.2%, which followed a 0.1% decrease in October. CoreLogic said September was likely the peak of its growth cycle.
There were also more houses for sale in Sydney and Melbourne than there had been at this time of year since 2018.
Compared with the previous five-year average, property listings were 10.4% higher in Sydney and 9.1% higher in Melbourne.
Perth’s housing marked continued to lead the nation, Corelogic said, with prices up 1.1% in November and rising by 3.0% over the spring quarter.
But this was the smallest increase over a three-month period since April 2023 and less than half the 6.7% rate of growth the Western Australian capital recorded over the June quarter.
Outside the capital cities, Corelogic’s report said regional housing trends had been “a little stronger”.
The combined regional housing index rose by 1.1% over the past three months compared with a 0.3% lift across the combined capitals.
As with the capital cities, the results in regional Australia were mixed.
While housing prices in regional Victoria fell by 0.9% over the past three months, they increased in every other state.
The growth was most pronounced in regional WA, which recorded a 3.3% increase in housing prices.
