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Date Published : Thursday, July 31, 2008
High interest rates and declining home loans saw the housing market fall to its weakest level since 2004 over the past three months, according to new figures from the Australian Property Monitors (APM).
The organisation's poll found median property prices dropped in five of the country's eight state capitals during the quarter to June 30th, news.com.au.
Perth was the capital city that experienced the greatest decline, suffering a 2.8 per cent drop in its average house price. Sydney came in second with a 2.1 per cent drop.
Despite experiencing the biggest drop in median values by unit at 3.8 per cent, Hobart in Tazmania had the lowest average price for property among the capital cities at $207,568.
The only capital city that did not see property or unit values drop during the quarter was Adelaide, the report said, as it experienced 0.4 per cent increase in both categories over the study period.
The quarterly figures indicate the housing slowdown has gathered pace in recent months, as four capitals post double-digit growth in their average house values over the 12 months to June 30th.
Melbourne had the biggest annual increase in median property prices at 14 per cent, leaving it with an average value of $449,888, while Darwin experienced the biggest increase for units at 16.9 per cent.
Sydney remained the capital city with the highest overall average price at $542,488.
Commenting on the figures, APM general manager Michael McNamara said: "The June quarter housing data is the weakest we have observed since 2004.
"It is likely these results are the canary down the coal mine and that rapidly rising mortgage rates and a looming economic slowdown will usher in a sustained period of property market weakness."
APM is a property research specialist that gathers information on the state of the housing market from government and semi-government agencies, real estate agents and its own researchers.
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