CoreLogic's home value index shows Canberra house prices are rising yet growth is slowing

CoreLogic's monthly home value index shows Canberra's median house value reached $1,032,331 at the end of January, following a 1.8 per cent monthly rise.

Canberra unit values were up 1.3 per cent to a new median value of $594,992. Dwellings, which captures both units and houses, saw a 1.7 per cent increase in values to $906,529.

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National housing values reached a new cyclical high in January, with the typical Australian home now worth $131,236 more than it was 12 months ago.

It comes as national dwelling values rose 22.4 per cent over the year, representing the highest annual rate of growth since June 1989.

Canberra and Sydney both reported an annual growth of 25.5 per cent across dwelling values, however Hobart and Brisbane topped the charts with 27.6 per cent and 29.2 per cent annual dwelling value growth respectively.

Despite the high annual growth, early indicators suggest while housing values are still increasing, the pace of growth is generally slowing.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said it would be important to monitor the trend as property transactions picked up over the next few months.

"As the volume of home sales moves out of seasonal lows, we should get a firmer reading on how 2022 is shaping up," he said.

"The early indication is that housing markets are starting 2022 with a similar trend to what we saw through late last year. Values are still broadly rising, but nowhere near as fast as they were in early 2021.

"A softening in growth conditions has been influenced by less government stimulus, worsening affordability, rising fixed term mortgage rates and, more recently, a slight tightening in credit conditions, and a surge in new listings through the final quarter of last year."

While the quarterly pace of growth in Australian rents has been easing since its peak in March last year, Canberra prices are still rising fast.

Over the three months to January, dwelling rents in Brisbane and the ACT saw the fastest growth, both up 2.3 per cent.

CoreLogic's latest rental review showed Canberra's median rent, across both houses and units, is now $651 per week.

Gross rental yields across the nation fell to a record low of 3.21 per cent in January, down from 3.69 per cent a year ago. In Canberra, the gross rental yield is one of the highest in the country at 3.8 per cent.

While new listings are generally higher than this time last year, freshly advertised supply remains below average on a national scale.

Mr Lawless said trends in advertised property stock will go a long way towards explaining the performance of housing values in early 2022.

"If inventory levels rise and demand reduces, we should start to see vendors and buyers becoming more evenly balanced in the market, reducing the sense of FOMO that has been a key factor in pushing up prices through the pandemic," Mr Lawless said.

"We may already be seeing this trend evolve in markets like Melbourne where total listings have returned to above average levels and the pace of capital gains has cooled."

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