Hobart is ‘Best Performing’ Market as Sydney Slows

David Chau| ABC| 1 September 2017

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-01/sydney-housing-market-slows-down-while-hobart-surges/8862594?section=business

Hobart has been crowned the “best-performing” housing market in the past year, while Sydney’s growth has slowed, a national house price report has found.

Key points:

• Across all markets, home prices were flat in August as Sydney continues to cool
• Hobart is now the hottest market, up 0.6pc over the month and 13.6pc year-on-year
• Perth home prices are now down 2.8 per cent over the year and Darwin is down 4.2pc

According to CoreLogic’s home value index for last month, dwelling values across the country were flat in August, and the housing market has moved through its peak growth phase.

The values of capital cities rose by a modest 0.1 per cent, while regional property values slipped by 0.2 per cent.

As for Sydney, its housing values slowed to just 0.3 per cent in the last three months, and has been consistently easing since October last year. Last month, the growth in Sydney’s property prices was flat.

To put that small figure in context, over the last five years, the typical Sydney property value had surged by 75 per cent, or $521,000.

But over the last year, Sydney prices lifted by 13 per cent, with a median property value of $909,914 — still the most expensive Australian real estate by far.

In comparison, the median value of Melbourne property is $695,500 and its property prices have not eased as quickly as Sydney’s. However, its rental yield was the lowest at 2.9 per cent in the three months to August.

“If the current trends continue, by the end of the year we could see dwelling values across Australia’s two largest housing markets, Sydney and Melbourne, trend lower as they move through their cyclical peaks,” said Tim Lawless, CoreLogic’s head of research.

Mr Lawless also noted that the annual growth rate for Hobart has not been at such a high level since 2004. In particular, its pace of capital gains at 13.6 percent is now “the highest of any capital city”.

The Tasmanian capital also grew 1.9 per cent between June and August.

So how does Hobart’s property prices compare with Melbourne and Sydney? The report showed that Hobart’s median house value was $383,438 in August, which is the lowest of all the capital cities.