House prices continue to rise

THE annual pace of dwelling price growth across Australia’s eight capital cities moved up a gear to 10.2 per cent during the June 2017 quarter, HIA senior economist Shane Garrett has announced.

The ABS Residential Property Price Index released last week shows acceleration in the pace of dwelling price growth.

“Dwelling price growth is still strongest in Sydney and Melbourne,” Mr Garrett said.

“Hobart and Canberra also showed robust price growth,” he said.

“The markets most affected by the natural resources investment downturn like Perth and Darwin continue to be affected by falling dwelling prices.

“The bottom line is that unabated price increases are putting the dream of home ownership beyond the reach of more and more Australians.”

Mr Garrett said the ultimate solution to the affordability challenge is to make the delivery of our future housing stock easier and less costly.

“More flexibility in housing supply is the answer,” he said.

Between the June 2016 and the June 2017 quarters, Sydney dwellings experienced the largest increase in price (+14.4 per cent) followed by Melbourne (+13.4 per cent) and Hobart (+11.3 per cent).

There were also rises in dwelling prices in Canberra (+8.9 per cent), Adelaide (+5.0 per cent) and Brisbane (+3.5 per cent) over the same period.

Prices declined in both Perth (-3.5 per cent) and Darwin (-5.9 per cent) over the year to the June 2017 quarter.