Please find above RP Data’s February housing market update, which discusses the state of the Australian housing market as at the end of January, following the 1.2% monthly increase in capital city dwelling values.
As expected, RP Data’s Tim Lawless is fairly upbeat this month arguing that a housing market recovery is underway. Lawless sees a number of improving vendor metrics, including:
- Falling days on market (notwithstanding December’s seasonal bounce):
- Falling vendor discounting:
- Improving auction clearance rates:
Nevertheless, Australia’s housing market still has a lot of lost ground to catch-up, with every capital still below its peak value:
Summaries of the capital city metrics are provided below:
Despite the improving housing market conditions, Lawless believes that housing values will recover along “a modest trend” only due to subdued economic conditions, namely:
- Soft housing finance:
- Subdued consumer sentiment:
- Weak dwelling approvals:
- Labour market weakness:
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