Residential properties line the Sydney suburb of Birchgrove in Australia, August 16, 2017. REUTERS/Steven Saphore
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SYDNEY, May 2 (Reuters) – Australian home prices continued to rise across the country in April, despite more heat coming out of the Sydney and Melbourne markets, with the smaller cities and regions proving resilient to the risk of higher mortgage rates.
Figures from real estate adviser CoreLogic released on Monday showed that prices in the combined capitals rose 0.3% in April from March, while Sydney fell 0.2% for a second month and Melbourne remained stable.
Brisbane again fared significantly better, up 1.7%, while Perth rose 1.1% and Adelaide rose 1.9%.
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Regional values rose 1.4% in April and 24% year-on-year amid a shift towards rural living and more space. Taken together, prices across the country rose 0.6% in April, up 16.7% year-on-year.
“A rebound in migration rates as state and international borders reopen could partially explain the renewed exuberance, along with persistently low advertised inventories and strong economic conditions,” said Tim Lawless, Research Director of CoreLogic.
The market had its strongest year ever in 2021, when the face value of Australia’s 10.8 million homes rose by A$2 trillion ($1.42 trillion) to A$9.9 trillion.
The boom has been a godsend for household wealth and consumer spending power, but also raised affordability concerns that are a hot topic for the May 21 federal election.
The market faces further headwinds as the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is widely expected to hike interest rates for the first time in a decade, possibly as early as Tuesday at its May monetary policy meeting.
Interest rates are currently at an emergency low of 0.1%, but financial markets are betting that they could rise to around 2.5% by the end of the year.
($1 = 1.4130 Australian Dollars)
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Reporting by Wayne Cole; Adaptation by Stephen Coates
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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