House prices: The latest June quarter data may not lie, but it’s rarely in agreement
Trying to work out whether the Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane housing market is going up or down?
Or just trying to work out whether you’re buying something at or below the median price?
It all depends on which housing data provider you choose to reference - they all use different methodologies to calculate their indexes and hence will never be in agreement.
RP Data-Rismark, Residex and Australian Property Monitors (APM) have all released their June quarter data, so direct comparisons can now be made.
(The ABS will put out its June eight capital city indexes on August 1.)
In just two markets – Brisbane houses and Melbourne units – do all three providers agree on the direction they are heading…in both cases down.
The REIV released June quarter data for Melbourne showing house prices up 2.9% to a median of $535,000 - the strongest quarterly gain recorded by all data providers.
Rarely are the national data providers within $10,000 of each other on the median house or unit price.
For example, RP Data-Rismark has the Sydney house price at a median of $616,000.
Residex says the median is $50,000 higher at $666,500, while APM’s Sydney median house price is in between the two at $642,425.
Some of the differences are startling.
- Residex says Darwin house prices rose over 7% over the June quarter to a median of $511,500, while APM and RP Data both have Darwin house prices falling.
- Residex says Perth house prices fell by more than 4% of the June quarter, while APM and RP Data have the market treading water.
- RP Data says Hobart unit prices fell almost 10% over the June quarter, while Residex has them as unchanged, and APM records a smaller 3.9% decline.
Here’s a breakdown of how the three commercial data providers have assessed the June quarter performance of the main capital city markets:
For markets where the price has moved by less than 0.2% either way, they have been judged for the purposes of comparison as "unchanged”:
Sydney houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $616,000 | Median price: $666,500 | Median price: $642,425 |
DOWN over quarter: -1.4% | UNCHANGED | UNCHANGED |
Melbourne houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $517,500 | Median price: $555,500 | Median price: $531,167 |
DOWN over quarter: -3.1% | DOWN over quarter: -1.31% | UP over quarter: +1.6% |
Brisbane houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $415,000 | Median price: $412,500 | Median price: $427,963 |
DOWN over quarter: -0.6% | DOWN over quarter: -3.75% | DOWN over quarter: -1.3% |
Perth houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $475,000 | Median price: $467,000 | Median price: $536,151 |
UNCHANGED | DOWN over quarter: -4.26% | UNCHANGED |
Adelaide houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $383,250 | Median price: $385,500 | Median price: $436,285 |
UP over quarter: +1.7% | DOWN over quarter :-0.34% | UNCHANGED |
Canberra houses
RP Data | Residex* | APM |
Median price: $520,000 | Median price: $529,000 | Median price: $575,825 |
UP over quarter: +0.8% | DOWN over quarter: -1.41% | UP over quarter: +1.1% |
Darwin houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $510,000 | Median price: $511,500 | Median price: $608,843 |
DOWN over quarter: - 1.9% | UP over quarter: +7.13% | DOWN over quarter: -1.2% |
Hobart houses
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $356,500 | Median price: $357,000 | Median price: $322,584 |
DOWN over quarter: -0.6% | DOWN over quarter: -4.15% | UP over quarter: +0.5% |
Sydney units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $477,000 | Median price: $490,500 | Median price: $464,124 |
UP over quarter: +3.3% | UNCHANGED | UNCHANGED |
Melbourne units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $430,000 | Median price: $428,000 | Median price: $392,862 |
DOWN over quarter: -5% | DOWN over quarter: -0.91% | DOWN over quarter: -1.2% |
Brisbane units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $365,000 | Median price: $349,500 | Median price: $356,744 |
DOWN over quarter: -0.7% | UNCHANGED | DOWN over quarter: -1.7% |
Perth units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $405,000 | Median price: $421,000 | Median price: $348,960 |
UP over quarter: +1.4% | UP over quarter: +7.45% | DOWN over quarter: -4.5% |
Adelaide units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $318,750 | Median price: $305,000 | Median price: $296,802 |
DOWN over quarter: -2.3% | UNCHANGED | UP over quarter: +1% |
Canberra units
RP Data | Residex* | APM |
Median price: $408,000 | Median price: $436,000 | Median price: $421,339 |
DOWN over quarter: -1.7% | UP over quarter: +5.38% | UP over quarter: +2.5% |
Darwin units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $419,250 | Median price: $407,000 | Median price: $384,384 |
DOWN over quarter: -0.6% | UNCHANGED | DOWN over quarter: -2.9% |
Hobart units
RP Data | Residex | APM |
Median price: $279,000 | Median price: $265,000 | Median price: $260,393 |
DOWN over quarter: -9.8% | UNCHANGED | DOWN over quarter: -3.9% |
*Residex Canberra figures for the ACT
For a break down of the RP Data-Rismark Daily Home Value Index click here.