Sydney, Melbourne capital gains drive national rise higher in August 2016: CoreLogic
National dwelling prices rose 1.1 percent in August with home value rises in Sydney and Melbourne leading the nation according to the latest Home value Index from CoreLogic.
Sydney dwelling values increased 1.4 percent month to month with Melbourne dwelling values up 1.5 percent.
Tim Lawless, CoreLogic head of research, said despite a strong month-on-month reading, the pace of annual capital gains has trended lower compared with the 2015 peak in growth conditions, when capital city dwelling values were rising at 11.1 percent per annum.
“The most recent twelve month period has seen dwelling values rise by a lower 7 percent per annum," he said.
"However, the rate of annual growth in Sydney has virtually halved from a recent 18.4 percent peak to the current annual rate of 9.4 percent.
"Similarly, in Melbourne the annual growth trend peaked at 14.2 percent per annum last year and has since tracked back to 9.2 percent per annum over the most recent twelve month period.”
“For the remaining capital cities, each city continued to show a modest trend in value appreciation.
"Signs are emerging that the pace of capital gains may be accelerating across Canberra and Hobart, with dwelling values up 7.6 percent and 6.5 percent respectively over the past twelve months.
"One year ago, Canberra’s annual growth rate was negative, at -0.9 percent, while in Hobart, values increased by only 1.5 percent.
“While the annual growth trend is now lower than it was one year ago, the rate of capital gains remain well above other benchmark measures such as inflation, income growth and rents, which is pushing already stretched affordability ratios to new record highs.
He said the August Home Value Index shows a substantial difference between the performance of house and unit values and at a combined capital’s level, house values rose by 7.2 percent over the past twelve months, compared with a 5.5 percent rise in unit values.
“The trend for house value growth outperforming unit values is apparent across most of the capital cities, particularly in Melbourne and Brisbane, where concerns around inner city unit oversupply are mounting. House values by more than double the rate of units over -10 percent the past year in each of Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra," he said.
“Looking at housing market performance across the broader value segments over the past 12 months, the most affordable suburbs have recorded the greatest value rises, while the most expensive suburbs have seen a more moderate rate of growth."