Melbourne in home sales doldrums as spring auction season starts
Increased tax burden and oversupply combine to rein in Melbourne property prices
ADELAIDE has overtaken Melbourne as the fourth most expensive market behind Sydney, Brisbane and Canberra, data from CoreLogic shows.
With average prices rising by 1.4 per cent during August to $790,789, the South Australia capital has overtaken its Victorian counterpart for the first time.
Perth has also pulled ahead of Melbourne for the first time in almost a decade after notching up increases which put the average cost of a home at $785,250.
CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen noted that Melbourne’s slide could continue with a large increase in listings for the spring sales – up 25 per cent above the five-year average.
“The increased tax burden may be dissuading some demand from investors, as shown in the sharp drop in investment loans in Victoria,” she said.
“There is also a longer-term period of oversupply in this market, with more completions across the state than any other state and territory.”
Analysis by PropTrack shows investors represent two in five sales in Melbourne, which is the largest proportion in any state capital.
Melbourne also has the highest number of homes for sale since November 2018, with new properties coming to market standing at 31 per cent above the prior five-year average. Prices slipped 0.18 per cent in August, taking total falls to 4.66 per cent since the highs of March 2022.
The city’s price slide has also been noted by John McGrath who described it – along with regional Victoria – as a buyers’ market.
“Supply remains higher than demand and there were house price declines over the three months to July 31,” he said.
“However, they weren’t dramatic at -1.2% in Melbourne and -1.6% in regional Victoria.”
Nationally, weekend auction market reported a clearance rates were at 67.6% which was higher than the 61.7% reported over the previous weekend – but below the 72.1% recorded over the same weekend last year.
The number of listings was again higher with 2205 listings versus the previous weekend’s 2072.
That’s well above the 1843 listed over the same weekend last year.
Over the past 12 months, Perth’s home values surged by 24.4 per cent, Adelaide jumped by 14.9 per cent, Brisbane climbed by 15 per cent and Sydney by 5 per cent.
