MEDIA RELEASE
19 March 2019	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)

Residential property prices fell 2.4 per cent in the December quarter 2018, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman said: "Australia’s two largest cities continue to lead the fall in property prices. These falls follow a period of solid growth, where prices in Sydney rose 68 per cent and Melbourne rose 54 per cent, over the five years to December quarter 2017."

Sydney property prices fell 3.7 per cent in the December quarter 2018 and have continued to fall since September quarter 2017, while Melbourne property prices recorded the fourth consecutive quarter of falls (-2.4 per cent).

Mr. Hockman said: "While property prices are falling in most capital cities, a tightening in credit supply and reduced demand from investors and owner occupiers have had a more pronounced effect on the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne."

Through the year growth in residential property prices fell 5.1 per cent in the December quarter 2018. Falls were recorded in Sydney (-7.8 per cent), Melbourne (-6.4 per cent), Darwin (-3.5 per cent), Perth (-2.5 per cent) and Brisbane (-0.3 per cent).

The total value of Australia's 10.3 million residential dwellings fell by $133.1 billion to $6.7 trillion. The mean price of dwellings in Australia is now $651,100.

This issue includes updated weighting patterns for the suite of residential property price indexes and the total value of residential dwellings using data from the 2016 Census of Population and Housing.

Further details can be found in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0), available for free download from the ABS website: https://www.abs.gov.au.



Media notes:

• Established houses are detached residential dwellings on their own block of land, regardless of age.
• The term 'attached dwellings' includes flats, units and apartments plus semi-detached, row and terrace houses.
• The value and mean price of residential dwellings includes any land.
• When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
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