Perth leads small 0.5% “stumble” in property values in April: RP Data

The housing market retraced some of the gains made in the first three months of the year with dwelling values falling 0.5% to a median of $485,000 over April, the latest RP Data Rismark index shows.

This follows a cumulative gain of 2.8% in property values over the March quarter.

For the three months to April, capital city house values are up 1.1% and 2.7% year-on-year with total gross returns on investment properties (capital growth and rental income) of 7.1%.

The most notable capital city decline was in Perth, where property values retreated 2.5% over April to a median of value of $499,000 with smaller declines recorded in Sydney (-0.4%, median of $565,000), Melbourne (-0.5%, $491,000) and Brisbane (-0.7%, $425,000).

Outside of the mainland states, Hobart property values fell by 3.1% to a median of $311,500.

Adelaide was the best performing capital city property market over the month with values up 3.1% to a median of $375,000.

It also had the best performing market across houses and units over the month, with Adelaide house values up 3.1% over April to a median of $393,500.

Darwin remains the best performing capital city housing market over the past three months, with values up 5% to a median of $475,000.

RP Data’s director of research, Tim Lawless, said the April results represented “more of a stumble along the path to recovery than a sign of a renewed trend in value falls”.

“When viewed in line with other metrics such as auction clearance rates, private treaty indicators and some improvement in housing finance demand, it is likely that the negative April result will be a blip along the path to recovery.

“We weren’t expecting that the high rate of growth evidenced over the first three months of the year would be sustained into April. A more measured pace of growth is a much more realistic outcome for the Australian housing market, especially considering that the first quarter is typically the strongest for value growth,” he said.

Rismark CEO Ben Skilbeck said the April  pullback was “seasonally typical of a market pause, meaning that if one were to take seasonal movements into consideration the market is not currently showing any downward trend”.