House values across the nation soared through June ahead of the latest string of coronavirus lockdowns, driving prices to record highs in almost every capital city.
Data from CoreLogic released this morning showed house values in Sydney jumped another 3 per cent last month, taking the median value to more than $1.2 million. The value increased by $38,000 across the 30 days of June.
Over the past six months, house values have increased by 18.5 per cent or by more than $200,000.
In Melbourne, house values lifted by 1.8 per cent or by almost $22,000 despite the start of the month being dominated by a lockdown. The city's median value is now at a record $929,769.
Melbourne house values have increased by 11.4 per cent so far this year, or by more than $100,000.
It was a similar story across other capitals. In Brisbane, values climbed by 2.2 per cent o $657,551, in Adelaide they lifted by 1.8 per cent to $551,538 while in Canberra they jumped another 2.7 per cent to reach $877,311.
Across houses and units, dwelling values lifted by 1.9 per cent, slightly down on the 2.2 per cent recorded through May.
CoreLogic's head of research, Eliza Owen, said over the past year, dwelling values had improved by 13.5 per cent with housing up by 15.6 per cent.
“This is the highest annual rate of growth seen across the Australian residential property market since April 2004 when the early 2000's housing boom was winding down after a period of exceptional growth,” she said.
“The latest listings count from CoreLogic indicates that in the 28 days to June 27, total advertised stock remained 24.4 per cent below the five-year average.
“This dynamic of strong consumer demand, and low housing supply, continues to create some urgency among buyers.”
There are signs of a slowdown in some of the nation's hottest markets. House values in Perth lifted by 0.1 per cent to be 7.3 per cent up over the year while in Darwin they increased by 0.6 per cent to take the quarterly increase down to 4.9 per cent.
Ms Owen said while the biggest increase in the June quarter was for the top quarter of the market, up by 8 per cent, this was a slowdown from the 9.2 per cent experienced through the March quarter.
She said there was some uncertainty over how the current series of lockdowns would affect the market.
“It is difficult to say whether this dynamic will be maintained in the coming weeks amid lockdown conditions in parts of Australia,” she said.
“Sales volumes are likely to decline, but new listings added to the market also tend to decline during lockdowns as properties are harder to sell.”
The Reserve Bank board meets next week when it is expected to announce changes to key elements of its quantitative easing program. But it is also expected to keep official interest rates at their current record low level of 0.1 per cent.
* Source - The Sydney Morning Herald - Shane Wright