Sydney house prices increase by 15%

Newly released Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data reveals that Sydney’s property prices have grown at more than double the rate of those in other key Australian cities over the past year.

According to the ABS figures, property prices in Sydney increased by almost 15 per cent in the year to September 2014 – over double the gains recorded in Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, and six times those see in the nation’s capital, Canberra.

Last week, the latest RP Data CoreLogic housing survey revealed that only three of the country’s eight state or territory capital cities – Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – recorded a month-on-month property price increase in October, hinting that the country’s property market is stabilising after a period of growth.

It is a trend that appears to be backed up by the latest ABS figures. According to the ABS data combined capital city house prices overall rose 9 per cent in the year, having slowed from the 10 per cent annual rise recorded in the June quarter.

What’s more, property prices nationwide rose 1.5 per cent in the September quarter, compared with 1.9 per cent in the previous three months.

JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy told The Australian that national house prices were slowing to more sustainable levels.

“The growth we saw last year can’t be sustained and that could lead to problems if it did,” he said. “The fact that we’ve slowed down is probably a good thing and we think it’ll probably slow down a little more.”

Australian capital city house price increases (Sept 13-Sept 14)

Sydney – 14.6%

Melbourne – 6.9%

Perth – 6.7%

Brisbane – 5.6%

Adelaide – 3.7%

Hobart – 4.3%

Darwin – 3.4%

Canberra – 2.4%

Source: ABS

Article published 11th November 2014