Sydney and Melbourne Drive Property Price Rise

Residential property prices rose by 1.9% in the three months to June quarter, the fifth straight quarter of growth, according to figures from the ABS.

Strong growth in Sydney and Melbourne lifted home values across Australia’s capital cities on a weighted average basis by 1.9%, beating forecast growth of 1.3%. These rises where somewhat offset by prices falls in Perth (0.8%) and Darwin (1.4%).

Despite the introduction of macro-prudential measures by APRA at the start of the quarter, house price growth remained steady in the June quarter.

"Residential property prices, while continuing to rise in Melbourne and Sydney this quarter, have begun to moderate," chief economist for the ABS Bruce Hockman said.

"Annual price movements ranged from -4.9 per cent in Darwin to +13.8 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne. These results highlight the diverse housing market and economic conditions in Australia's capital cities."Over the 12-month period residential property price growth reached 10.2%, with Sydney and Melbourne leading the way, recording the largest growth, both rising by 13.8%, with only Perth and Darwin record a price decrease over the 12 month period at 3.1% and 4.9% respectively.

Australia’s 9.9 million residential dwellings were valued at $6.7 trillion at the end of June 2017 rising $145.9 billion from the previous quarter.

The average price of residential dwellings rose $12,100 to $679,100 with the number of residential dwellings increasing by 40,000 in the second quarter 2017.