Price falls affect Hobart housing

THE national slump in residential property prices has finally caught up with Hobart, where prices have dipped 0.4 per cent in the first three months of the year, ending the city’s long run without a fall.

It is Hobart’s first quarterly fall since 2012.

Home prices fell in every Australian capital city in the three months to March, slicing more than $170 billion from the total value of the nation’s dwellings.

Average prices across the eight capitals dropped 3 per cent in the quarter and 7.4 per cent in the year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Residential Property Price day.

The March quarter drops were greatest in Sydney and Melbourne as home prices fell 3.9 per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively, while the smallest dip was in Adelaide, at 0.2 per cent.

In Darwin, residential property prices fell 1.8 per cent, and in Brisbane, they dropped 1.5 per cent. That was followed by a 1.1 per cent decline in Perth, while in Canberra prices retreated 0.9 per cent, the ABS said.

The total value of Australia’s 10.3 million residential dwellings fell $172.7 billion between January and the end of Index, released yesterMarch, to $6.56 trillion. That was a heftier decline than the $133 billion lost in the December quarter.

The statistics agency said 42,900 homes were added across the country during the first three months of this year.

“A continuation of tight credit supply and reduced demand from investors and owner occupiers has contributed to weakness in property prices in all capital cities this quarter,” ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman said.

Average property values on a 12-month basis fell 10.3 per cent in Sydney, 9.4 per cent in Melbourne, 4.2 per cent in Darwin, 2.7 per cent in Perth and 1.3 per cent in Brisbane. Home prices over the year were up 4.6 per cent in Hobart and 0.8 per cent in Adelaide, while values in Canberra remained unchanged.

According to the bureau, the total value of Australian residential dwellings peaked at $6.96 trillion in the March quarter of 2018 and has since fallen for four consecutive quarters.

The ABS calculated that the average Australian home cost $636,900 at the end of March 2019, with New South Wales having the most expensive mean at $806,800 and Tasmania having the cheapest at $412,700.