Housing data provider, Australian Property Monitors (APM), yesterday released its September quarter house and unit price figures. It was another poor result with house price falls accelerating, declining -1.6% nationally in the September quarter compared with a -1.2% fall in the June quarter. Unit prices were more resilient, falling -0.6% in the September quarter, matching the -0.6% decline registered in the June quarter.
Below are the key tables from the APM release via SmartCompany:
I’ve charted the APM data to show you how far losses have mounted. The below charts shows the peak-to-trough declines for each capital city and nationally:
Nationally, house prices have fallen by around 4% from their peak, lead by Brisbane (-8.6%) and Perth (-7.8%), followed by Adelaide (-5.3%), Hobart (-4.9%), Melbourne (-4.1%) and Darwin (-3.8%). Canberra and Sydney have proven more resilient, falling only -2.0% and -1.9% respectively.
The story is more varied for units, where prices have fallen -1.6% nationally. Perth (-10.4%), Hobart (-8.6%), Canberra (-6.8%), Darwin (-5.2%), and Adelaide (4.6%) have been hit hardest, whereas Melbourne (-2.5%), Brisbane (-2.3%) and Sydney (-0.6%) have held-up better.
When inflation is taken into account, the real losses in values have started looking quite nasty in some markets:
Nationally, house prices have fallen by -8.1% in real terms since their peak, whereas real unit prices are down by -5.6%. Brisbane (-12.7%), Perth (-11.6%) and Adelaide (-9.2%) are leading the housing losses, whereas for units, the largest real price falls have been experienced in Perth (-15.4%), Hobart (-12.9%) and Canberra (-11.2%).
Below are a series of charts showing the evolution of prices since the beginning of the APM price series in June 2004. Note the huge run-up in prices in Perth and Darwin in the lead-up to the current slowdown, as well as Sydney’s laclustre price performance.