Top end of town remains troublesome, with property prices in blue-chip suburbs down 5.3 per cent in the past year.
The data shows affordable suburbs are still weathering the storm, down just 0.8 per cent in 12 months.
Melbourne's property market is in a slump, with buyers keeping their hands in their pockets at auctions across the city.
RP Data research director Tim Lawless said January was a bad month for property prices, and while other cities were clawing their way back, Melbourne was still struggling.
"A few alarm bells have gone off for Melbourne because it has been such a good performer," he said.
Mr Lawless said people seemed more interested in paying off their mortgages than spending up big on a new house.
For May alone, national city home values fell 0.3 per cent, seasonally adjusted. That brought the slide so far in 2011 to 2.7 per cent, compared with 2.4 per cent for the five months to July 2008, during the peak of the GFC, RP Data researcher Tim Lawless said.
Advertisement: Story continues below
House prices are on the slide nationwide, although Sydney is bucking the trend. Photo: Glen Hunt GTH
‘‘That year-to-date figure is mostly attributable to the January figure. Values were down 1.2 per cent in that month alone. The market’s actually continuing to fall in value but certainly not at as dramatic a rate as that,’’ Mr Lawless said.
Sydney dwelling values also went against the downward trend, rising by 0.3 per cent over the month. Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra were also up marginally, but in Melbourne the brakes were on, with both values and transaction volumes dropping, the figures show.
The outlook for house prices has drawn mixed reviews, with research firm BIS Shrapnel earlier this week predicting solid gains over the coming three years for most cities. Others, though, have pointed to the prospect of another rise in official interest rates, slowing inbound migration and a soft economy outside the mining sector as reasons for house prices to remain steady or fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment