RP Data has released its dwelling value results for the month of April, which revealed a modest 0.3% rise in national capital city dwelling values over the month. However, as the result followed March’s whopping 2.3% jump in values, quarterly growth remained at a strong 2.6% and annual growth at 11.5% (see below table).
As shown above, the increase in capital city dwelling values nationally was driven by solid growth in Sydney (+0.5%) and strong growth in Brisbane (+1.1%), Adelaide (+2.1%) and Darwin (+1.1%), with weak growth also experienced in Perth (+0.2%) and Hobart (+0.2%). By contrast, values fell in Melbourne (+0.5%) and Canberra (-1.1%).
The below charts show the various changes from the previous peak and troughs, as well as the 12 month growth rate:
Since the housing market bottomed in May 2012, dwelling values across the combined capital cities have risen by a cumulative 16.1% through to the end of April 2014, and are 7.5% above their prior peak, driven by exceptionally strong growth in Sydney. Sydney’s median house price has also broken the $800,000 mark for the first time on record, hitting $802,000 over the three months to April.
Meanwhile, rental yields continue to suffer as dwelling values continue to outpace rental growth, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne. Over the past year capital city rents have increased by just 2.3% whereas dwelling values are up by 11.5%, with Melbourne and Sydney house yields plummeting to an anaemic 3.3% and 3.7% respectively (see below chart).
