The new PropTrack Home Price Index shows where prices are still growing strongly

Paul Ryan| 6 April 2022| Realestate

https://www.realestate.com.au/insights/the-new-proptrack-home-price-index-shows-where-prices-are-still-growing-strongly/

While property price growth has slowed across the country, big differences are opening up between suburbs plateauing and those still on the rise.

The new PropTrack Home Price Index (HPI), launched on 1 April, is the only timely and revisionary index in Australia. It is designed to track changes in home values across the country each month.

The PropTrack HPI allows us to dig into home price growth across the country to see where prices are still on the up and up.

Sydney

The boom in prices hit Sydney after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic as borrowing costs fell.

The key winners were lifestyle and coastal locations such as the Northern Beaches and eastern suburbs and further north in New South Wales on the Central Coast.

Sydney’s south west regions have enjoyed strong growth. Picture: realestate.corealestm.au/

But the HPI shows that over the past year it’s been the Bankstown and South-West regions of Sydney that have risen to the ascendency – with price growth of over 25% over the past year.

These regions have benefited from work-from-home trends pushing people towards larger homes, as well as the reduced need to commute to CBDs, which previously weighed on more peripheral areas.

High property prices across Sydney have also forced many buyers further from the city.

While at a city level the median price of houses is now more than $1.2 million in Sydney, it remains below $1 million in these regions, despite recent price growth.

Melbourne

The Melbourne region has seen a big boom in the Mornington Peninsula since the onset of the pandemic – a boom that continues, with the lifestyle destination seeing almost 20% growth over the past year.

It’s clear many are still taking the opportunity afforded by remote or flexible working arrangements to move to this desirable location.

But the emerging growth regions are in the North-East and North-West regions of Melbourne, each seeing 13% to 14% growth over the past year.

Both regions are also priced well below the median across Melbourne as a whole, which currently sits at almost $900,000 million for houses.

Prices in the North-West region remain almost $200,000 less and the North-East region about $100,000 thousand less.

Regions around the Mornington Peninsula have boomed. Picture: realestate.com.au/buy

Relative affordability is one benefit, along with, again, larger homes, good transport links and amenities.

Brisbane

Brisbane has bucked the slowing price growth trend, with all of the city continuing to boom.

Growth across Brisbane has exceeded 25% over the past year, except in the Inner City region, which still posted a considerable 20% increase.

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It’s clear that climate, lifestyle, and larger and well-located homes continue to drive strong migration flows north to Brisbane.

Relative affordability is also playing a part, with the citywide median price for houses of just over $600,000 being half of that in Sydney.

Adelaide

The Adelaide market is one of the more surprising success stories in 2022.

Price growth there has not slowed to the same extent as in other capitals, remaining consistent across Greater Adelaide – with prices up between 23% and 27% in all regions.

It seems Adelaide may continue to benefit from interstate interest.

Perth

Perth has seen the weakest performance of all the capital city markets over the past year.

Prices are up on average less than 8% over the year and prices fell slightly in the month of March.

But some regions have done better than others. The Inner, North East and South West regions of Perth all grew by 9% over the past 12 months.

The HPI shows that much of the weakness in Perth is driven by the North West region of the city in particular.