The Australian Bureau of Statistics' (ABS) property price index of the eight capital cities rose over the last quarter, led by Adelaide, which rose 1.6%.
The quarterly rise of 0.8% was hampered only by Melbourne, down 0.3% - the only city to record a fall.
Melbourne now has an unstratified median house price of $700,000, down from $720,000 last quarter.
On the year, home prices increased by 4.5% across the capital cities, led by Hobart (up 6%).
The weighted capital cities index now sits at 144.3 - down from the highs of 147.6 seen in December 2017.
Buying a home or looking to refinance? The table below features home loans with some of the lowest variable interest rates on the market for owner occupiers.
Smart Booster Home Loan
Product Features
- Discount variable for 1 year <=80% LVR
- No ongoing fees
- Unlimited redraw facility
Monthly repayments: $1,476
Advertised
Rate (p.a.)
1.99%
Comparison
Rate (p.a.)
2.47%
Product Features
- Discount variable for 1 year
- No ongoing fees
- Unlimited redraw facility
Base criteria of: a $400,000 loan amount, variable, principal and interest (P&I) home loans with an LVR (loan-to-value) ratio of at least 80%. If products listed have an LVR <80%, they will be clearly identified in the product name along with the specific LVR. The product and rate must be clearly published on the Product Provider’s web site. Monthly repayments were calculated based on the selected products’ advertised rates, applied to a $400,000 loan with a 30-year loan term.
ABS head of price statistics Andrew Tomadini attributed the price falls in Melbourne to COVID-19 restrictions.
"Property prices continued to fall in Melbourne in the September quarter ... Melbourne house prices fell 0.3% and attached dwelling prices fell 0.2%," he said.
"Residential property transactions rose in a number of capital cities in the September quarter 2020. Substantial increases were observed in Sydney and Brisbane."
Lending data indicates the average home loan written in October was more than $566,000, with the value of new loan commitments up 0.7% in seasonally-adjusted terms.
Since September 2011, mean prices have risen 40.5% from $490,800 to $689,500, yet the ABS' wage price index has risen just 25.1% - though the Reserve Bank cash rate was 4.75% in September 2011.
Across the states, New South Wales has the highest mean price of residential dwellings at $888,900 - the lowest mean price is the Northern Territory at $425,200.
The number of residential dwellings rose by 44,000 Australia-wide in the quarter, yet the mean residential dwelling price rose $5,400.
Assuming a borrower had a 20% deposit on the mean price ($137,900), mortgage repayments would be $2,211 per month, using MoneySmart's average mortgage rate of 2.61% p.a. over a 30-year home loan.
This is just below the 30% 'mortgage stress' indicator using the ABS' average full time wage earnings.
Using the ABS house price data to Q3, a rough estimate of dwelling price upside based on people's willingness to borrow, income and rates is around 10%. If sentiment remains elevated there's likely some upside (also from slightly lower rates in Q4) #ausbiz pic.twitter.com/04ZbP7fTTM
— Alex Joiner (@IFM_Economist) December 8, 2020
Photo by Yashi Wang on Unsplash
