Property prices fall 2.4 per cent

Residential property prices fell 2.4 per cent in the December quarter 2018, according to figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Chief economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman said: "Australia’s two largest cities continue to lead the fall in property prices. These falls follow a period of solid growth, where prices in Sydney rose 68 per cent and Melbourne rose 54 per cent, over the five years to December quarter 2017."

Sydney property prices fell 3.7 per cent in the December quarter 2018 and have continued to fall since September quarter 2017, while Melbourne property prices recorded the fourth consecutive quarter of falls (-2.4 per cent).

Mr Hockman said: "While property prices are falling in most capital cities, a tightening in credit supply and reduced demand from investors and owner occupiers have had a more pronounced effect on the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne."

Through the year growth in residential property prices fell 5.1 per cent in the December quarter 2018. Falls were recorded in Sydney (-7.8 per cent), Melbourne (-6.4 per cent), Darwin (-3.5 per cent), Perth (-2.5 per cent) and Brisbane (-0.3 per cent).

The total value of Australia's 10.3 million residential dwellings fell by $133.1 billion to $6.7 trillion. The mean price of dwellings in Australia is now $651,100.

Have you put off making a downsizing decision based on the falling property prices?

8 comments

contrary to what some may things property prices ARE falling across Australia.  ABS figures out today show that.

"Australian property prices are falling at a faster rate than during the global financial crisis (GFC) with new figures showing the decline is widening outside the Sydney and Melbourne markets."

yes, some of the high end properties may be holding up but in general they certainly are falling.  as someone who has just sold a property we had to drop our price quite a lot to get it sold.  still made profit but not as much as we would have 12 months ago.

Yes we recently sold a home, for various reasons we had to drop the price, but we still tripled our money on a property we had for 12 years.  Being rated as being in a flood prone area even though the floods didn't come close didn't help much.

At least it will allow many to get a home of their own  IF the banks do the right thing!

banks are tightening lending after the Royal Commission (and so they should).  it was ridiculous that people were being given loans they could never afford and some with little or  no deposit.

In my former place of residence the banks wanted to see 20% deposit for your future house, and then the loan was for a maximum of 10 years. After that period you had to negotiate another one - if you were a good re-payer there would be no problem but a slacker might have to look at another financial institution. A bit harsh maybe but I have never seen repossessions of family homes because of defaults. Maybe householders should be a little less choosy when settling on their first home.

Good point Cowboy Jim, Even in the 70's I couldn't afford a home within 40 klms of the capital city.  Let your expectations fit your income and you will not have a problem.

House prices coming down are good for homebuyers not so good for investors, pretty much how I think it should be.

Thus it has always been.

Up a bit - down a bit

As with all of these things, yet another example of having far too many reporters - all looking for a story.

And, all going for sensation not thr facts.

So prices go UP 80%+ in 8 years and now when they retreat 2.4% the world is coming to an end?  Sounds like media BS playing out.

In the long term a block of land costs 'x' dollars and building a house costs 'y' dollars.  THAT is the value of of a PROPERTY.  All the rest is idiots who play games with the market to force prices up and then down again. Sounds a lot like the big end of town having milked rising prices and now wanting to buy back in at a much lower prices.  We won't be selling!

some have gone down further than 2.4%!

Any property is only worth as much as someone else is prepared to pay for it. Simple economics to my engineers brain. As we have no plans to downsize (except for a 2m deep plot in the local cemetry at an unspecified time in the future) the price fluctuations of housing are only of interest to us in terms of how difficult it will be for our grandchildren to purchase a house sometime in the future.

when there are so many on the markets as there are where I live you have to take what the market is offering to pay.  if you dont it sits for months if not longer (friend has had hers on for 12months) and she is now riding the market down.  if had sold 6 months ago at what was offered then it would have been off her hands.

Glad to say, the situation in Perth is not as drastic as Melbourne and Sydney. I am going to stay put for a long time, we built from scratch and no amount of money will entice me to move. Besides, my wife doesn't want anyone to have her Japanese garden.

Friends of mine have been getting what they asked for, you just have to be a little realistic. My advice, if you can hang on to your property for another year or so, then you won't have a problem.

8 comments



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