The ABS has today released its property price index – incorporating both detached houses and units – which registered a 1.5% rise in values nationally over the September quarter and a 9.1% gain over the year, down from the 10.1% annual growth recorded in the year to June 2014.
As expected, the growth in property values was once again driven by Sydney – investor central – where prices rose by 2.7% over the quarter and by 14.6% over the year. Solid gains were also posted in Melbourne (+6.9% YoY), Brisbane (+6.7% YoY), Adelaide (+5.6% YoY), Hobart (+4.3% YoY), Perth (+3.7 YoY), and Darwin (+3.4% YoY), whereas growth barely kept pace with inflation in Canberra, with prices up only 2.4%% over the year.
Perth’s housing market also continues to slow sharply, with prices down 0.1% in the September quarter.
The ABS has also updated its estimated total value of residential properties in Australia, which hit $5.3 trillion in the September quarter, up from $5.2 trillion in the June quarter and $5.1 trillion in the March quarter. The average price of Australia’s 9.405 million residential properties is also $563,100, up 8.6% from $518,300 in the September quarter of 2013 (see below table).
This suggests that Australian housing is currently around 3.3 times the size of the economy, as measured by GDP, and roughly $223,700 per man, women and child. No wonder we are one of the “wealthiest” nations on earth!
