Advanced Search

Share Coverage



Category: Housing Industry

House prices jump in April

Monday, 2 May 2016 08:51:45 | Rebecca Hyam

Home values rose by 1.7 per cent across the combined capitals in April. (ABC News: Nic MacBean)

Capital city home values bounced back last month, led by solid results in Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Figures from CoreLogic RP Data show home values rose by 1.7 per cent across the combined capitals, taking annual growth to 7.3 per cent.

That comes after a 0.2 per cent increase in March, and a 0.5 per cent rise in February.

Sydney led the price gains in April, with a 2.4 per cent rise, while home values in Brisbane increased by 2.2 per cent.

Prices in Adelaide recorded a 2 per cent lift.

Melbourne saw a 1.1 per cent increase during April, but with annual gains of 10.1 per cent, it is the only capital city to record double digit growth over the past 12 months.

Canberra's house prices were up by 1.2 per cent in April and Perth values rose by 0.5 per cent.

But both Hobart and Darwin recorded price falls — of 2 and 1.7 per cent, respectively.

Values rising at slower pace

Head of research at CoreLogic RP Data, Tim Lawless, said despite the latest result, the housing market was continuing to cool down.

"I'd be surprised if we saw this latest monthly figure become a new trend of very strong results," he said.

"I think the broader trend, when you look at the longer term nature of the data, we are still seeing a moderating trend across the Australian housing market.

"So values are still rising, but just not at as fast a pace as we were seeing about halfway through last year."

Mr Lawless said there were a number of reasons for the longer-term house price moderation.

"Affordability in some of the larger cities is becoming quite challenged," he said.

"We're also seeing lenders becoming more conservative around their lending practices, APRA's very much more vigilant around responsible lending standards as well.

"So even though we're set to see mortgage rates remain really low, and potentially even move lower tomorrow, the fact is, the housing market is showing some slowing trends."

The likelihood of an official interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank tomorrow has increased, with the market now pricing a 77.7 per cent chance of a rate reduction.

But Mr Lawless said there was a great deal of uncertainty as to whether the banks would pass any RBA rate cut on to their mortgage rates.

"Considering we've seen mortgage rates edging higher, even though there's been no movement to the cash rate since last year, it does suggest that those higher funding costs as well as higher capital requirements, may prevent the banks from passing a full cash rate cut on," he said.

"So I don't think we'll see the same level of stimulus from a cash rate cut."

AustraliaPlus


 

Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.

沪公网安备 31010602000204号

Email this to your friend