Canberra dwelling values had the largest drop in the nation last month, with both houses and unit values falling, a new CoreLogic report has found.
Its home value index found all dwellings were down 0.4 per cent in August, with detached houses falling 0.3 per cent and units 0.5 per cent. Nationally, values were up 0.5 per cent.
Canberra houses had a median value of $967,933 last month. Units had a median value of $579,774.
CoreLogic's head of research Eliza Owen said a health supply of units could be detracting from the appetite for houses.
"You have relatively high levels of unit listings in Canberra and relatively high completion rates across the territory from 2019 through to 2023," she said.
"People may be starting to look at units as a [better] option than buying a detached house. That could be a function of the fact that Canberra house values are very high.
"There is an entrenched decline emerging in that market.
"The pace of the decline deepened across the house market this month as well."
The difference between house and unit values is tightening.
In July, there was a 0.7 per cent difference between house and unit values. August saw just a 0.2 per cent difference.
"It is likely demand pressures are emerging from that high price point, but also the broader context of high interest rates and high cost of living," Ms Owen said.
Nationally, unit values had larger gains (or smaller falls) than houses in most areas measured, with the exceptions of Canberra, Darwin and regional Queensland. However, when aggregated across the nation, growth was the same for units and houses at 0.5 per cent for the month.
While recent strong growth in Brisbane is moderating, it came close to eclipsing the ACT for the second-highest median house price in Australian capital cities. The median house price in the Sunshine State's capital is $966,382 - about $1500 less than in Canberra. Sydney had the highest median value, at $1.18 million.
Ms Owen said the gap between Canberra and Brisbane narrowing made sense when you reflected on the dynamics through the pandemic.
"Even though Brisbane is technically very expensive, you can still get a lot of value for money in that market compared to what you can in Sydney and Melbourne," she said.
"If you look at the quarterly growth rate, though, we are seeing a little bit of a slowdown in Brisbane where maybe it is starting to hit a limit with affordability, too."
