Monthly highlights
• In the three months to February, national home values rose 4.0%, with every capital city and rest of state region rising in value.
• The highest quarterly increase in dwelling values across the capital cities was Darwin, where values rose 5.5%. However, the pace of dwelling value growth is accelerating across Sydney and Melbourne.
• In the three months to February, the top 25% of values led growth across the dwelling markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Darwin and the ACT.
• Although dwelling values are consistently rising across the capital cities, four of the eight capitals are still below their record high values.
• Over February, dwelling values hit new record highs across Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and the ACT.
• CoreLogic estimates sales volumes increased 12.6% nationally in the year to February, with the largest volume uplift coming from the regional areas of Australia.
• National rent values have risen 3.2% in the year to February, which is the highest annual growth rate since March 2012.
• Despite the rapid increase in rent values, gross rental yields have compressed to their lowest level on record nationally, at 3.64%.
• Days on market have trended slightly higher due to seasonality at the national level, but are still well below the 5 year average.
• Nationally, the rate of vendor discounting has tightened by 52 basis points over the year to February.
• New listings volumes are now outpacing 2020 levels across 6 of the 8 capital city markets, however total stock on market is only higher across Melbourne.
• For the four weeks to March 7th, the combined capital cities auction clearance rate averaged 78.8%, reflecting strong buyer demand.
• Dwelling approvals fell in January, albeit from record highs. House approvals are 33.3% above the decade average, while units are trending 50.8% lower.
• Over January, the value of owner occupier finance commitments for the purchase of property grew 10.9%, while investor lending rose 9.4%
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• The RBA held rates at 0.1% through February, and reiterated messaging that rates could stay low until 2024.
• Average housing lending rates for new loans have declined 70 basis points for owner occupiers, and 70 basis points for investors through the year to January.