Regional markets buck downward trend

Combined regional home values rose by 0.4 per cent in March, with the median home value now increasing to $363,087, according to CoreLogic’s Hedonic Home Value Index.

It stated that the rise in regional values helped offset the 0.2 per cent fall across the combined capital city markets, meaning that Australian dwelling values held firm in March.

Over the last quarter, regional property prices have risen by 1.1 per cent and by 2.6 per cent year-on-year.

CoreLogic’s head of research, Tim Lawless, noted that combined regional home values have continued to trend upwards, despite price softening in capital cities.

“The stronger combined regional markets performance continues a trend that began to emerge in October last year where regional housing markets showed an overall improvement in the pace of capital gains while the combined capitals trend softened,” Mr Lawless said.

According to figures, the broader regional market in Tasmania has experienced the largest uplift, with dwelling values rising by 5.4 per cent in the past 12 months.

Mr Lawless claimed that growth in Tasmania’s regional market has been spurred on by an influx of investment from Sydney and Melbourne as well as an increase in interstate migration.

Despite a 2.1 per cent fall in Sydney home values, prices across broader NSW have increased by 5.1 per cent over the past 12 months.

Property prices in greater Victoria also jumped by 4.0 per cent in the same period, with values in Queensland also increasing slightly by 0.5 per cent.

However, dwelling values in broader Western Australia experienced the largest decline over the past 12 months, dropping by 5.3 per cent, with prices also falling by 1.7 per cent in regional South Australia.

The strongest performing regional location over the past 12 months was Geelong, with dwelling values in the Victorian town rising by 10.0 per cent, while outback Queensland suffered the steepest decline, with prices falling by 10.2 per cent in the same period.

[Related: Capital city property prices continue to fall] 

Charbel Kadib is the news editor on the mortgages titles at Momentum Media.

Before joining the team in 2017, Charbel completed internships with public relations agency Fifty Acres, and the Department of Communications and the Arts.

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