Capital cities average asking prices increase marginally: SQM Research

Average asking prices in capital cities only increase marginally in December 2019 according to SQM Research.

The capital city asking prices have increased by 2.4 per cent for houses and 0.8 per cent for units in December 2019 with the average asking price at the year end being $977,900 for houses and $577,600 for units. This is significantly lower than a year ago with the capital asking prices showing an increase of 5.8 per cent for houses and 1 per cent for units.

Over December 2019, Sydney and Hobart were the only capital cities to show increases in both house and unit prices.

Meanwhile, all other capital cities recorded increases in house prices but saw marginal declines in unit prices over the month. Perth, in particular, saw the greatest fall in the unit market with a 1.6 per cent decline while the city's house price increased by 0.3 per cent. Hobart's unit prices recorded the strongest growth of 2 per cent. Darwin continues to record declines in both house and unit prices of 2 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively.

Weekly Asking Prices Index, SQM Research.

Overall, Melbourne shows the strongest price growth of 4.2 per cent for houses despite its decline in the unit market at 0.6 percent. Melbourne's median house asking price has now returned back to over one million dollars. This was last seen between the period of April and June 2018. The city's median asking price is currently sitting at $1,027,600. Following behind, the Sydney house market similarly climbed back to its 2017/2018 highs of over $1.3 million, records show a 2.4 per cent increase in asking house prices over December 2019. The current median asking house price in Sydney is $1,341,400.