According to the ABS quarterly Residential Property Price Index (RPPI), Sydney’s dwelling prices rose by 2.3% in the March quarter.
Established house prices rose 2.4% and attached dwellings prices rose 2.0%.
Robin Ashburn, from the ABS, said that, while Sydney’s growth had slowed from the December quarter, house prices rose 16.6% and attached dwelling prices rose 13.7% over the year.
“These were both the largest annual rises of all cities.”
Using the weighted average of the eight capital cities, the RPPI rose 1.7% over the quarter.
Ashburn said this was an 10.9% over the previous year which was the largest annual increase since the June quarter 2010.
Apart from Canberra, which recorded a fall of -0.1%, prices in all the capital cities rose over the quarter.
Melbourne was second after Sydney with a rise of 2.1%, followed in third place by Hobart which recorded a rise of 1.4%.
Ashburn said the figures contributed to a rise in the total value of residential dwellings to $5.1 trillion over the March quarter. This meant the average value of Australia's 9.3 million residential dwellings was $546,500.
SQM Research director Louis Christopher said the ABS results showed that Canberra was continuing to struggle and that Perth (which rose by 1.1%) was slowing.
He also felt that the Melbourne results were too optimistic and that, despite a strong quarter, growth in Sydney was easing after the last “crazy” months of 2013.
“Brisbane is not rapidly picking up as hoped by some of the bulls,” he said. “ But I am a believer momentum is building in South East Queensland and future quarters may well record faster price rises.”
The ABS annual result suggested the SQM forecast of 15-20% growth for Sydney was on track, with house prices rising 16% over the year to March, Christopher added.
“Our national 7-11% forecast with the ABS index as the benchmark, is looking the goods.”
