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Despite worsening affordability, home sales have remained high in the first month of 2024.
CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index for January has revealed that the median home price in Australia rose 0.4 per cent over the course of the month, a slight increase up from the 0.3 per cent rise seen in the final two months of 2023.
Home sales were also high, with a total of 115,241 dwellings being sold over the three months leading up to January, according to CoreLogic estimates. This is 11.9 per cent more sales than seen during the same period the year before, and exceeds the five-year average for late summer.
“Despite ongoing cost of living pressures, high interest rates, low consumer sentiment and affordability constraints, homes are still selling,” said CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless.
“Housing demand has been buoyed by high migration, but also tight rental markets that have probably incentivised renters to transition towards home ownership if they can afford to do so,” he said.
In spite of an overall rise in both sale numbers and home values, price performance was mixed across Australia’s states and territories, with Melbourne, Hobart and Canberra seeing value declines.
According to Mr Lawless, Perth was January’s standout market for price growth.
“Perth home values rose a further 1.6 per cent in January, on par with the city’s growth trend in November and December, and only slightly lower than the recent high of 1.8 per cent recorded in October,” said Mr Lawless.
He continued: “The western capital continues to see housing demand outweigh supply, helping to push values 16.7 per cent higher over the past 12 months.”
Despite this rise, property in Perth remains comparatively affordable when contrasted with the nation’s eastern capitals, with the current median home price sitting just below $677,000.
Regional markets are another strong point in the Australian property landscape, with the January quarter seeing home value growth exceed the combined capitals at a total of 1.2 per cent.
Mr Lawless explained: “While both the combined capitals and combined regional markets are losing momentum in the pace of value growth, the capital city trend has slowed more sharply, mostly due to the flattening of growth conditions in Melbourne and Sydney.”
“Across the other states, regional Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland continue to record a slower pace of growth relative to their capital city counterparts; these are also the three regional markets where dwelling values are at record highs,” he stated.
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