Housing market outlook improving in Australia as downturn slows

The pace of decline in Australia’s residential housing market slowed in May, down nationally by 0.4%, the smallest month on month fall for a year, the latest index data shows. But nationwide prices are still down by 7.3% year on year to a median value of $519,537 and quarter on quarter they are lower by 1.5%. CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless pointed out that the improvement is primarily being driven by a slower rate of decline in Sydney and Melbourne where housing values were previously falling at the fastest rate of any capital city. Money on month prices in Sydney fell by 0.5% to $776,135 but they are still 10.7% lower than in May 2018 while in Melbourne they fell by 0.3% month on month to $619,804 and are down 9.9% year on year. Prices have also continued to fall in other cities. In Brisbane they were down 0.5% month on month and 2.3% year on year to $484,882. In Perth they fell by 1% on a monthly basis and are 8.8% lower than May 2018 at $436,090. While in Darwin they are down 1.6% and 8.6% respectively to $393,298.