The value of Australia’s 10.9 million dwellings totalled $9.5 trillion in April, with values continuing to increase after months of consecutive falls.
According to CoreLogic’s Housing Chart data for April 2023, national home values rose 1 per cent in the three months to April, marking the first quarterly lift in home values since May 2022.
The property analytics and research company outlined that national home values rose to $9.5 trillion, up from $9.4 trillion in March, but remained below its $10 trillion peak in April 2022.
It comes after the group’s Home Value Index that showed home values began lifting in March, breaking 10 months of decline.
Across the combined capital cities, dwelling market value rose 0.7 per cent in the month of April, following a 0.8 per cent lift, taking dwelling values 1.4 per cent higher from a trough in February this year.
As such, over the three months to April, national home values rose 1 per cent. The capital cities led the majority of growth (1.4 per cent) while the combined regional areas dropped by 0.1 per cent in the three months to April.
Sydney recorded the greatest increase in values over the period (up 3 per cent), with the top end of the Sydney housing market leading the growth, up 4.0 per cent for the three months to April.
Conversely, Hobart was the capital with the largest decline in values between Feb-April 2023. Regional Tasmania also recorded the greatest drop in values, falling 1.6 per cent in the three month period.
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When comparing home values over the 12 months to April, the CoreLogic data shows that Australian house values were down 8 per cent, with the combined capital down 8.4 per cent and the combined regions down 6.8 per cent.
Sales trending
In addition, the CoreLogic data found that the amount of time it takes to sell property is starting to shift, with the median days on market having decreased from 37 days in the three months to February to 33 days in the three months to April.
Although the number of sales trended seasonally lower, with 35,398 estimated sales nationally for the month, this is still fairly on par with what is typically observed this time of year.
CoreLogic noted, however, that vendors are now offering less of a discount on their property across the combined capital cities market. The median vendor discount across the combined capital cities had eased from -4.35 per cent in the September quarter of 2022, to -3.88 per cent in the three months to April 2023.
Moreover, it flagged that in the four weeks to 7 May 2023, there were 31,356 new property listings nationally. While this represented a slight uptick following a string of public holidays, it is expected that new listings will trend seasonally lower through the cooler months of the year.
The CoreLogic data comes after new ABS data revealed that a total of $24.0 billion of new mortgages were settled in March, which marked a “strong monthly increase” of almost 5 per cent and the first monthly rise since January last year.
The ABS data also found that first home buyers were beginning to enter the market again in March, with the value of first home buyer finance rising 12.3 per cent through March. Moreover, the number of new owner-occupier first home buyer loan commitments rose 15.8 per cent in March 2023.
It comes despite the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) 11th cash rate hike, which took the cash rate to 3.85 per cent, leaving consumer confidence plummeting and saw lenders increase interest rates.
