House prices fall 1.2% in September quarter: ABS

Established house prices across Australia’s eight capital cities declined by an average of 1.2% over the September 2011 quarter, led by a 2.5% fall in Brisbane, according to preliminary ABS estimates.

Brisbane has also registered the greatest annual fall, with prices down 5.2% since the September 2010 quarter.

All the capital cities registered a decline in house prices over the quarter with Melbourne registered the third biggest decrease in existing capital city house prices with a 1.7% decline.

Sydney house prices proved the most resilient with, just a 0.2% fall.

Perth house prices declined by 1.3%, Adelaide fell by 0.9%, Canberra fell by 2%, Hobart fell by 1% and Darwin fell by 0.4% over the quarter.

Year-on year, preliminary estimates show that the price index for established houses for the weighted average of the eight capital cities decreased 2.2%.

Annually, house prices decreased in the other capital cities were: Darwin (-4.4%), Perth (-4.2%), Adelaide (-3.2%), Canberra (-2.2%), Melbourne (-2.1%), Sydney (-0.3%) and Hobart (-0.3%).