House prices tumble

29 Apr 2011 -

Australia’s house prices fell by 0.6 per cent last quarter, new research has found.

According to Australian Property Monitors latest House Price Report, the softening of house price growth reflects the ongoing hangover from the strong price growth generated between 2009 and 2010 driven particularly by record activity from first home buyers.

Hobart’s median house prices suffered the biggest drop, recording a 2.3 per cent fall.

Darwin was not far behind, suffering a 1.6 per cent drop in median house prices.

In fact, Canberra was the only capital city to record growth in house prices over the March quarter, rising by a modest 0.2 per cent.

Similarly, Sydney house prices exhibited some resilience in the face of adverse market conditions, falling just 0.4 per cent over the quarter.

Speaking about the results, APM senior economist Andrew Wilson said the negative growth was not part of an ongoing trend.

“Early signs are emerging of stabilisation and recovery in most capital cities,” he said.

“Sydney and Canberra should record modest house price growth from mid-year, with Melbourne prices also likely to track marginally upwards over the year.”