SYDNEY: Australian home prices have fallen for a seventh month with the downturn proving steeper than any in the past four decades, while the heightened risk of another imminent rate hike has added to more pain for a once-booming housing market.
Figures yesterday from property data firm Cotality showed national home prices fell 1.2% in October from September, when they dropped by a downward revised figure of 1.3%. That left values 6.7% below their peak and down 2.8% from a year ago.
Capital-city home values were falling at their fastest in 40 years, the firm said, with prices down 8.1% in just seven months.
That surpassed a decline of 7% over the same timeframe in 2022 to 2023, when the central bank raised interest rates sharply to tame inflation after the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mid-sized capitals led the declines in October, with Brisbane home values falling 2.0% and Perth down 1.7%, unwinding some of the gains of roughly 50% racked up over the past five years.
Sydney prices fell 1.6% in the month, leaving values 1.5% below where they were five years ago.
“Buyers have a lot more stock to choose from, they have more leverage and there isn’t the same urgency to buy as there was a year ago when home values were rising rapidly,” said the firm’s research director, Tim Lawless. — Reuters
