Australia's housing market reported its fifth consecutive monthly dwelling value increase in November, clocking its largest monthly gain since 2003, according to the latest CoreLogic's national Home Value Index.

The national house prices rose 1.7% over the month, with Sydney, Hobart, and Melbourne leading the monthly gain. Since the trough in July, the national dwelling index has already recovered by 4.7%. However, dwelling values remain 4.1% below their 2017 peak.

Perth's sudden turnaround?

Of all the capital cities, Sydney recorded the biggest monthly gain at 2.7%. However, the most surprising result came from Perth, which saw its first month-on-month dwelling-value increase since the downtrend took a pause in early 2018.

"Dwelling values have been trending lower since mid-2014, down a cumulative 21.3% through to the end of November," said CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless.

Over the past 13 years, Perth has witnessed its housing values climb to be the most expensive across capital cities. However, housing values in the capital city are now among the lowest across the country. Lawless said this could be great news for first-home buyers.

"However, Perth homeowners have seen a material reduction in their wealth over the past five and a half years," he said.

Also read: Housing "red-hot" in 2020

Huge quarterly gains in Sydney, Melbourne

On a quarterly basis, Sydney and Melbourne were head and shoulders above the rest, reporting respective growths of 6.2% and 6.4%. The two cities led the national home value index's 4.6% quarterly gain. 

"The November CoreLogic Home Value Index data released today highlights the continued surprising rebound in residential property price growth in Sydney and Melbourne with the price index up about 8% in both cities since June 2019," said Robert Mellor, executive chairman at BIS Oxford Economics.

On an annual basis, the biggest growth went to Hobart at 4.2%. The strong gains in Hobart, Canberra, Sydney, and Melbourne have resulted in a turnaround, marking its first growth since April 2018.

The table below shows the change in dwelling values in each capital cities:

Capital City

Change in Dwelling Values

Median Value

Monthly

Quarterly

Annual

Sydney

2.7%

6.2%

1.6%

$840,072

Melbourne

2.2%

6.4%

2.2%

$666,883

Brisbane

0.8%

1.8%

-0.5%

$497,491

Adelaide

0.5%

0.9%

-0.5%

$433,845

Perth

0.4%

-0.9%

-7.7%

$437,080

Hobart

2.3%

2.8%

4.2%

$474,186

Darwin

-1.2%

-1.1%

-10.9%

$388,018

Canberra

1.6%

3.2%

3.0%

$611,841

Darwin reported declines across the board, with housing values declining by 10.9% annually.

The Brisbane and Adelaide markets, on the other hand, were inches away from posting positive annual gains.

"There are early signs of improvement in the Brisbane market with growth of 1.8% for the three months to November 2019 and strong growth in Canberra and Hobart," Mellor said.

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However, indicators seem to point to the slump in sales volume across the capital cities.

"We expect quarterly price growth to slow significantly over the second half of this financial year to June 2020 as listings increase," Mellor said.

Housing values in regional areas were also on an uptrend, but not as strong as the gains seen in capital cities.

While combined capitals reported a 4.6% quarterly growth, combined regional areas registered a 1.1% gain.

Across the broader regional areas of the states, Tasmania is seeing the most robust growth, with values up 2.2% over the past three months, followed by Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria.

Growth drivers

Lawless said the recent rate cuts, the loosening of serviceability rules, and the removal of uncertainty surrounding capital gains tax were central to the continued recovery in housing prices.

"Additionally, we're seeing advertised stock levels persistently low, creating a sense of urgency in the market as buyer demand picks up," he said.

There are also expectations of further interest-rate cuts in the coming months.