Melbourne price growth the second strongest capital city, with softening Sydney prices: APM

The median national house price was up 2% for the March quarter and 11.3% over the year, with Melbourne and Sydney remaining the clear market leaders for price growth according to the latest House Price report from Australian Property Monitors (APM).

Price growth rates slowed across all capital cities for the March quarter, with no growth in Perth’s median house price and APM recording falling prices in Hobart, Darwin and Canberra.

The biggest quarterly increase in median price was seen in Sydney, up 3.1% to a median house price of $669,845 for March. However, these results were markedly softer than those recorded in the previous quarter. Median house price recorded in the city for the December quarter was at 5.1%.

APM senior economist Andrew Wilson commented that Sydney’s median house price showed its lowest rate of quarterly growth since March 2013.

“The Sydney house price boom has faded fast as all capital city housing markets recorded waning house price growth over the March quarter,” noted Wilson, who cited affordability barriers in the city’s market resulting from underperforming local economies.

“Other capital city markets have recorded, at best, modest growth which clearly reflects the disparity of the multi-speed recovery profile of the current growth cycle.”

The three bedroom Punchbowl home pictured below sold for $690,000 last month. 

The second biggest jump recorded by APM was in Melbourne, where the median price for March was $540,747, up 2.8% for the quarter.

APM’s results for the quarter are more conservative than those posted by RP Data, which recorded a 4.8% median house price increase over the March quarter for Sydney and a 5.8% increase in Melbourne.

Data from APM shows that Sydney’s house market has seen a 16.9% year on year increase in median price, while Melbourne’s median house price is up 11.7% from March 2013.

The greatest drop in median house prices was seen in Canberra, where median house price was recorded at $566,863, down 2.6% for the quarter. Canberra was also the only capital city market that saw a year on year decline, with the median house price falling 1.6% from March last year.

This three bedroom house on 776 square metres of land in Canberra’s Belconen district sold for $565,000 in March.

 This article first appeared on Property Observer.