Throughout November 2016, capital city dwelling values rose by 0.2%. While the headline results remained in positive growth territory, the monthly capital gain reading was also the softest result since December 2015 when capital city dwelling values went unchanged over the month. Meanwhile, the combined regional areas of Australia displayed weaker results, with house values falling by 0.2% over the month.
According to Lawless, the muted performance across the combined capital city reading was attributable to a 1.5% decline in the Melbourne index, while all other capital cities recorded a positive month-on-month result.
“Delving into the Melbourne results in more detail showed that unit values were down a larger 3.2% in November, while Melbourne house values declined by 1.3% over the month,” he said.
The November figures show that capital city dwelling values rose by 1.7% over the three months of spring, which is a substantial improvement over 2015. “Spring 2015 saw capital city dwelling values fall by 0.2%, with auction clearance rates dipping below 60% in late November and early December. In contrast, auction clearance rates held firm in the mid-70% range throughout spring this year, with Sydney clearance rates holding around the 80% mark over the past three months,” notes the report.
On an annual basis, every capital city except for Perth is now showing a positive annual trend in terms of dwelling value growth. The highest annual growth rate is apparent in Sydney and Melbourne, where dwelling values are now 13.1% and 11.3% higher respectively.
The Hobart and Canberra markets have also seen some acceleration in growth rate trends with dwelling values up 8.5% and 8.4% respectively over the past 12 months.
Darwin is back in the black
For the first time since February 2015, Darwin’s annual growth rate has moved back into the black, recording a 1.1% increase in dwelling values over the past year. Lawless notes that the results for smaller cities such as Darwin tend to show higher levels of volatility.
“The November results also show a rise in transaction numbers across the Darwin market over recent months, supporting the moderate improvement in market conditions that the hedonic index is showing.”
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