Property in Australia’s big cities outside of Melbourne and Sydney have shown a small bounce in prices for the month of September.
The nation as a whole recorded a 0.1 per cent drop in the CoreLogic home price index thanks to a 0.9 per cent drop in Melbourne and a 0.3 per cent drop in Sydney.
Other than our two biggest capital cities, the other capitals and most other markets recorded price increases.
“That speaks to some of the affordability constraints across these cities, compounded by the job loss and income loss that we’ve seen through COVID-19, as well as the fact that those cities have more exposure to overseas migration,” CoreLogic’s head of research for Australia Eliza Owen told the ABC.
Despite the falls in Melbourne Ms Owen said there were still some good signs emerging in the property market.
“There’s been a really interesting turn in market sentiment over September,” she said.
“We’ve started to see a lift in consumer sentiment, typical auction clearance rates, new listings are finally starting to rise — up about 9 per cent over the month.”
Ms Owen said the property market was still up and about despite the pandemic thanks largely to the availability of such cheap credit amid record-low interest rates.
“Negative economic shocks also bring lower interest rates,” she said.
“When that credit is cheaper, it means that people who do still have their jobs and income intact might be more inclined to make that decision to purchase property as the debt is quite cheap at the moment.”
As Victoria’s COVID restrictions ease there’s plenty of hope Melbourne’s property market can salvage something for the rest of the spring selling season.
