Houses emerge stronger over September as Sydney and Melbourne declines soften: CoreLogic

Houses emerge stronger over September as Sydney and Melbourne declines soften: CoreLogic
Joel RobinsonDecember 7, 2020

National dwelling values continued to show resilience over September, as declines softened to -0.1 per cent across the country.

That's according to the latest figures from CoreLogic's monthly Home Value Index, with the national dwelling value declines steadily softening month on month.

Last month national dwelling values contracted -0.4 per cent, and -0.6 per cent in July.

The improving markets in Sydney and Melbourne, the only two markets still in decline, suggests next month the national monthly dwelling value performance will tick in to the positive for the first time in six months.

It wasn't until May that the national change in dwelling values dropped in to the red.

Over September Sydney's dwelling values saw a -0.3 per cent decline, continuing to soften from the -0.5 per cent declines in August and -0.9 per cent in July.

Melbourne's dwelling value decline dropped to -0.9 per cent, down from back to back -1.2 per cent declines in July and August. Since the March peak, Melbourne values are now down -5.5 per cent.

Brisbane's dwelling value rose 0.5 per cent following a -0.1 per cent decline last month. 

It was one of many big movers, with Adelaide values jumping 0.8 per cent over September from a flat August.

Hobart rose 0.3 per cent, Darwin a further 0.6 per cent from their one per cent gains over August, and Perth saw a 0.2 per cent gain from a flat August.

Canberra's value growth stalled, but still saw it rise 0.4 per cent following a 0.5 per cent gain last month.

Houses emerge stronger over September as Sydney and Melbourne declines soften: CoreLogic

On Melbourne's continued decline, CoreLogic's head of national research Tim Lawless says with restrictions starting to lift and private home inspections once again permitted, they expect to see activity lift in October.

House and Units

Until September it had been houses driving the declines across the country.

But last month represented a changing of the baton, with the housing market now starting to pick up.

Nationally the combined capitals saw -0.2 per cent declines in housing values compared to -0.4 per cent for units.

Last month the aggregated totals were -0.5 per cent for houses and -0.4 per cent for units, and -0.8 per cent for houses across August and -0.6 per cent for units.

Sydney house values outperformed their unit counterpart over the month, with house values down -0.2 per cent compared to the unit market which slipped to -0.5 per cent declines.

The general consensus in the new world is buyers will be looking away from high density living and opting to purchase houses over apartments, particularly those in the inner city. 

Melbourne's units were still outperforming the housing market, but the gap has narrowed (-0.9 per cent for houses, -0.8 per cent for units.)

Where are prices falling?

CoreLogic advise that it is the upper quartile values which are leading the wider declines.

They say lower quartile home values have pushed in to positive growth territory over the September quarter.

The combined capitals stratified hedonic index recorded a 0.4% lift in lower quartile values over the September quarter, with a -2.6% drop in upper quartile values.

" The weaker performance across the larger cities, where housing values are typically higher, helps to explain the underperformance of the upper quartile, however it is clear that lower value cohorts of the market are performing better in Sydney and Melbourne as well", Lawless says.

Housing values across Sydney’s lower quartile were down -0.4% over the September quarter while upper quartile values fell by -2.1%.

The trend is amplified in Melbourne where lower quartile values were down -1.9% over the September quarter while upper quartile values fell by -4.6%. 

 

Joel Robinson

Joel Robinson is a property journalist based in Sydney. Joel has been writing about the residential real estate market for the last five years, specializing in market trends and the economics and finance behind buying and selling real estate.

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