Arabic version: تراجع العقارات يصل إلى 93 في المئة من ضواحي المدن الكبرى

According to ABC News, Cotality’s monthly national Home Value Index recorded a 0.9 per cent fall in August, marking the fifth consecutive month of declining Australian property prices. The national median property value is now 3.6 per cent below its record high in March.

The downturn broadened through winter, with the share of capital-city suburbs where home values fell rising from 45.8 per cent in autumn to 93 per cent. Sydney led the declines, with values down 1.4 per cent in August and 7.1 per cent below their February peak. Melbourne and Canberra each fell 1.1 per cent, Brisbane dropped 1 per cent, and Adelaide and Perth declined 0.8 per cent.

Cotality research director Tim Lawless said a sharp fall in demand and higher-than-average advertised stock levels were weighing on Sydney. He said the easing had moved beyond higher-value segments to become a more generalised softening across capital-city suburbs. Cotality estimated quarterly home sales were 15.5 per cent lower than a year earlier and 11.5 per cent below the five-year average. Brisbane, Perth and Sydney recorded sales-volume declines of more than 20 per cent from a year ago.

Independent economist Alan Oster said conditions differed substantially by city, pointing to Perth’s annualised rate of 20 per cent and declines of around 7 to 8 per cent in Sydney and Melbourne. Ray White chief economist Nerida Conisbee said buyer activity was particularly low: the agency’s open-home data showed average attendance had fallen from about four people last year to around two this year. She said fewer sellers were coming to market, indicating the market was not seeing distress among owners.