Home price falls lose steam
CoreLogic reported that dwelling price declines moderated in March 2019, falling by 0.6 per cent, the smallest monthly decline since October last year (albeit, still a decline, while the downturn spread geographically into most 'rest of state' regions as homebuyers now go on strike too).
The few sub-regions to have avoided a downturn included certain parts of Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Canberra.
Some parts of regional Victoria have also held up well.
Since peaking in 2017 prices are down in Sydney by 13.9 per cent, and in Melbourne by 10.3 per cent.
Prices are also well below their peak in Darwin (-27.5 per cent), Perth (-18.1 per cent), and regional Western Australia (-31.6 per cent), among other locations.
Source: CoreLogic
The biggest declines over the past year were seen in Melbourne's inner east (-16.1 per cent), Ryde in Sydney (-14.7 per cent), and Sydney's inner south west (-14.1 per cent).
I actually had to look up which suburbs come under the banner of Sydney's inner south-west, being the Hurstvilles, the Carltons, the Kingsgroves, and the Rockdales.
Perhaps there's rather less buoyancy in Chinese capital this year.
There were also substantial falls in Sydney's Sutherland (-12.4 per cent) and in the South West (-11.6 per cent).
The ABS found that detached houses have generally experienced sharper declines than attached dwellings and units, and this trend is broadly mirrored in CoreLogic's figures.
Premium markets have also experienced sharper falls than the middle or bottom quartiles, according to CoreLogic's analysis.
Yields up
Gross yields in the capital cities have now bounced to 3.8 per cent, from under 3½ per cent at the nadir, despite softness in the major rental markets.
Although mortgage rates are close to record lows there may be some way to go here yet (especially given Labor's proposed changes).
Nationally gross yields are up to 4.1 per cent, from 3.8 per cent a year earlier.
Source: CoreLogic
Auctions mixed
Tim Lawless of CoreLogic noted that there were tentative signs that the downturn has begun to lose steam, while mortgage rates may now ease (cf. ING Australia, Macquarie Bank, Suncorp Australia etc.), though the weekend auction results in Melbourne weren't too hot.
The best auction results in Sydney were again seen on the north shore.
Analyst Arek Drozda has been charting the downturn in monthly median auction prices in Sydney, after they went totally ballistic for a brief period until March 2017, and since that heady time there's been quite some correction for house auction prices.
Source: Arek Drozda
Monthly median auction prices for units are are tracking at about $90,000 below their peak, although they haven't made any fresh lows now since all the way back in September 2018.
Source: Arek Drozda
