Property prices up 4 per cent this year in Aus

Posted on Tuesday, July 07 2009 at 9:00 AM

House and unit prices climbed 3.9 per cent over the first five months of 2009, all but cancelling out the losses incurred last year, according to figures from RP Data and Rismark International.

Values climbed in every mainland capital city except Perth during the five months to the end of May, the RP Data-Rismark Hedonic Index suggests.

The national median price for all dwellings sits at $468,819 as of the end of May 2009, just 0.1 per cent or $520 shy of its peak in February 2008.

“These latest results herald a national residential market recovery,” says RP Data head of research Tim Lawless.

“It’s important to note that it has taken just 15 months for values to recover (to) the February 2008 peak.”

Melbourne is the top performer in terms of house price growth over the first five months of 2009, with the median climbing 5.9 per cent to $469,357.

Darwin tops the growth charts for units for the same time period, with its median price climbing 7.1 per cent to $342,724.

Rismark International managing director Christopher Joye says housing finance approvals, auction clearance rates and other independent house price data all confirm the remarkably resilient condition of the Australian housing market.

“The recovery in Australia’s housing market, which has defied countless doomsayers, has in turn been the cornerstone of the Australian economy’s stability in 2009,” Joye says.

Looking at each of the mainland capital cities, RP Data and Rismark report that over the first five months of 2009:

* Sydney’s median house price rose 5.1 per cent to $582,543, while the city’s median unit price climbed 5.4 per cent to $442,994.
* Melbourne’s median house price rose 5.9 per cent to $469,357, while its median unit price jumped 6.7 per cent to $377,077.
* Brisbane’s median house price climbed 3.1 per cent to $458,748, while its median unit price fell 0.3 per cent to $327,982.
* Adelaide’s median house price fell 0.2 per cent to $412,516, while its median unit price climbed three per cent to $345,466.
* Perth’s median house price fell 0.5 per cent to $475,481, and its median unit price was down 0.3 per cent to $440,783.
* Darwin’s median house price climbed 4.8 per cent to $493,430, and its median unit price jumped 7.6 per cent to $342,724.

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