Property Update - June 2024

Monthly highlights
 

• The pace of quarterly growth continued to tick higher in May, with values up 1.9%, up from a recent low of 1.1% over the three months to January. 

 

• Despite the uptick in quarterly growth, annual growth continued to ease from 9.4% over the year to February, to 8.3% over the 12 months to May. 

 

• The rolling 28-day change in the combined capitals Home Value Index was 0.7% in the 28 days ending June 6th. The last time monthly growth was around 0.7% for the combined capitals was in November 2023.

 

• In the four weeks to June 2nd, new listings totaled 38,236 nationally. New listings are trending higher than the historic five year average and higher than this time last year, driven by above-average vendor activity in Sydney and Melbourne in particular.

 

• CoreLogic estimates that 42,944 homes were sold in May, taking the rolling annual count to 503,729. Compared to this time last year, annual national estimates are up 7.1%, but have eased slightly from an annual peak of 505,623 in the 12 months to April.

 

• The annual change in national rents held steady for a fourth consecutive month at 8.5% in May. Underneath the headline figure, the annual pace of growth in regional rents has accelerated to 6.9% (up from a recent low of 3.7% in the year to September 2023), while the pace of growth in capital city rent values has slowed to 9.1% (down from 10.6% in April 2023).

 

• Dwelling approvals nudged 0.3% lower in April, led by a 1.0% fall in detached housing approvals, and partially offset by a 1.1% rise in multi-unit approvals. The monthly approvals data is always a bit volatile, but the trend shows little evidence of a turnaround in the early stages of new dwelling supply.

 

• Nationally, investor finance comprised 37.0% of new mortgage lending through April, up from 36.7% in March. Investor lending, as a portion of new loan commitments is now at its highest level since May 2017. 

 

• The average new variable rates for owner-occupiers and investors held relatively flat for the third consecutive month in April, at 6.27% and 6.53%, respectively. New short-term fixed rates for owner-occupiers shifted slightly higher through April on the previous month, to 6.0%, while longer-term fixed rates moved 14 basis points lower, to 6.74%. 

 

Download the report here (PDF 1MB)