RP Data today officially released its dwelling values results for April, which registered a -0.5% decline at the 8-city levels, with all capitals, except Adelaide and Darwin, recording monthly falls (see next table). It was the first monthly decline in values since December 2012.
While the monthly results were weak, the RP Data-Rismark home values index has recorded annual gains across all capitals, except Hobart (see next chart).
RP Data’s head of research, Tim Lawless, has clasified the fall as a “stumble along the path to recovery”. He also suggests the result reflects some level of seasonality, since prices generally rise most strongly in the first quarter of the year:
“When viewed in line with other metrics such as auction clearance rates, private treaty indicators and some improvement in housing finance demand, it is likely that the negative April result will be a blip along the path to recovery.”
“We weren’t expecting that the high rate of growth evidenced over the first three months of the year would be sustained into April. A more measured pace of growth is a much more realistic outcome for the Australian housing market, especially considering that the first quarter is typically the strongest for value growth.”
Elsewhere, the released showed that unit values (-0.6%) fell by less than than house values (-0.1%), although houses have outperformed units on a year-on-year basis (i.e. 2.7% growth versus 2.5% growth):
Full release below.
