Housing Activity Plummets While Housing Values Stabilise In April

Posted By Shiral Alexander

Housing Activity Plummets While Housing Values Stabilise In April

According to the CoreLogic Home Value Index results out on 1 May 2020, Australian housing values have not seen any evidence of a material decline in April, despite a sharp drop in market activity and a severe weakening in consumer sentiment. Although most regions recorded a rise in home values through April, the national monthly pace of growth more than halved, dropping from 0.7% in March to 0.3%. The April result was the smallest month on month movement since June last year, when the national index was down 0.2%.

CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said, “Although housing values were generally slightly positive over the month, the trend has clearly weakened since mid-to-late March, when social distancing policies were implemented and consumer sentiment started to plummet.” The capital city markets generally showed a weaker performance relative to the regional markets, with the combined capital cities index up 0.2% in April compared with a 0.5% rise across the combined regional markets. The sharpest reversal in growth conditions can be seen in Melbourne, where values nudged into negative territory through April, down 0.3%. Sydney values remained positive, rising 0.4% over the month. To provide some context, the six months prior to March saw both cities averaging a monthly growth rate around 1.7%.
Source: Jade Harling: 1MAY2020, Corelogic