Sydney’s housing has pushed ahead, while the rest of the country is lagging behind. In the December quarter Sydney house values rose by 0.7 per cent reports RP Data-Rismark. In contrast, Australia’s capital city home values declined by -0.5 per cent, seasonally adjusted for the same period. But that drop could actually be seen as good news, as it’s the year’s smallest quarterly decline, indicating that house prices may have already hit bottom. Capital city home values fell by -1.5 per cent seasonally adjusted in the March quarter, and a further -0.8 per cent in the June and September quarters, making the December quarter fall of -0.5 per cent relatively good news. Capital city house prices fell by about 3.5 per cent last year.
But the Australian Bureau of Statistics has released different figures, revealing the weighted average of house prices across Australia's eight capital cities is 4.8 per cent lower than a year ago. The figures reveal capital city house prices fell by one per cent during the December quarter. The results differ from RP Data’s, the ABS figures reporting house prices fell in all cities, apart from Perth, Hobart and Canberra for the last three months of 2011. Hobart’s prices were up 0.8 per cent, Canberra 0.7 and Perth 0.5. While Adelaide and Melbourne’s prices fell 1.6 per cent, Darwin 1.4, Brisbane 1.3 and Sydney 1 per cent.
And new home sales dropped 4.9 per cent, seasonally adjusted in December, reports the Housing Industry Association. New home sales were flat over the quarter, rising only 0.2 per cent. Detached house sales fell by 7.7 per cent in December, but rose 2.1 per cent over the quarter. Multi-unit sales increased by 29.4 per cent for the last month of the year, but fell 15.7 per cent over the December quarter.
