Canberra property market shows no sign of stopping while other capitals reach peak

Auction rates in the ACT are persistently above 90 per cent, while the number of new listings is 25 per cent below the average, meaning there are plenty of buyers out there and not enough properties for them.

"There's no sign clearance rates are starting to fade, even if they were fading from 91 per cent to 80 ... that's still extremely strong," CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said.

"Sydney has been in the early 80 per cent mark for the last couple of months, Melbourne has been around the mid 70 per cent range."

House prices in the ACT rose 6.9 per cent in the last quarter, on track for a 24 per cent increase annually, Mr Lawless said.

"This is certainly a very strong seller's market and it doesn't seem to be fading like we're seeing in other cities," he said.

Mr Lawless said there was a clear slowdown of house value growth, a trend which he had seen since last month.

He said across the country, price rises would likely taper off in the next few months.

He said that was a result of an increase in new builds, closed borders stopping population growth and the gradual removal of some government incentives, including HomeBuilder.

"It's probably some way off before we actually see housing values trending lower considering we're in for such an extended period of of low interest rates," Mr Lawless said.

While Canberra's property prices show no signs of slowing, Mr Lawless said the peak should be "just around the corner".

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"Because affordability is going to start to become more problematic," he said.

Mr Lawless said the ACT was an insulated market, and rarely experienced long downturns in home value. The last time house prices fell was mid 2019, which he said was likely a result of uncertainty surrounding the federal election.

More investors are creeping back to Canberra, making up 32 per cent of mortgage demand in February, compared to 28 per cent nationally.

Investors made up almost half the market in 2013, but dipped to 18 per cent in February 2020.

"Investors will progressively become more active," Mr Lawless said.

"The yields in Canberra are quite strong, they're averaging about 4.5 per cent growth, that's higher than average."

Unit prices have not skyrocketed like houses, with a 2.8 per cent jump in the last quarter.

Mr Lawless said a lack of investors, which made up a large portion of the unit market would have contributed to that, alongside a shift towards detached homes through the pandemic.

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