Cotality’s national Home Value Index recorded a third straight month of growth in April, with dwelling values up 0.3% to a new record high. The rise in values has added approximately $2,720 to the median value of an Australian dwelling over the month.
A lift in home values was recorded across every capital city, ranging from a 1.1% gain in Darwin, to a 0.2% rise in Sydney and Melbourne. While in positive territory, the pace of growth in national values eased a little from March (+0.4%), with sentiment and auction clearance rates slumping throughout the month.
“The rate cut in February supported an upwards inflection in housing market conditions, but the positive influence from lower rates seems to be losing some potency. At the same time, household confidence slipped in April, with the US’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff announcements and the upcoming federal election causing uncertainty. It is likely this may be causing some buyers and sellers to delay their decisions,” said Tim Lawless, Cotality’s research director.
Mr Lawless said these uncertainties are more apparent in sales and listings volumes compared to home values – a trend compounded by the ‘super break’ many Australians took between Easter and ANZAC public holidays.
This slowdown in buying and selling was evident in weekly auction and new listing numbers. Over the week ending 20th April, just 644 auctions were held across the combined capitals, the lowest easter auction week* since 2019, when the housing market was nearing a cyclical trough and federal election campaigns were dominated by conversations of housing policy reform.
Similarly, new listing numbers also fell to their lowest levels for this time of year since 2019*, with just 19,650 for sales listing seen across the combined capitals over the four weeks to April 27th.
“With further rate cuts likely as soon as May 20th, and a level of certainty returning to the market after the federal election on May 3rd, we expect a further modest rise in values for 2025.”
Although housing values are recording a broad-based rise, not every market is back to new record highs. In fact, across the capital cities, it is only the mid-sized capitals where home values are at their highest level on record. Sydney values remain -1.1% below their September 2024 high. Melbourne values are down -5.4% from the record peak in 2022. Hobart is down -11.1%, while in Darwin and ACT values remain -2.7% and -6.4% below their all-time highs.
The annual pace of gains slowed to 3.2% nationally in April, the slowest annual rise since the 12 months ending August 2023. The loss in momentum is reflective of the persistent slowdown in value growth seen between mid-2024 and early 2025, which culminated in falls over the three months ending January 2025. The monthly pace of gains turned positive in February, coinciding with the 25-basis point cut to the cash rate.
“Given the softer trajectory of growth through last year, it’s likely the annual pace of gains will continue to soften over the coming months, despite the positive inflection in values since February,” Mr Lawless said.
Despite stretched housing affordability, growth in house values is continuing to outpace the unit sector. The past three months have seen the value of houses rise by 1.1% across the combined capitals, more than double the 0.5% lift recorded across the unit sector. This trend is mostly being driven by Sydney, where house values were up 1.4% over the rolling quarter compared with a -0.3% fall in unit values over the same period. Hobart had the largest disparity between house and unit growth in the period, with houses rising 1.4% against a -1.1% fall in units. Melbourne and Adelaide saw an even performance between the two housing types over the rolling quarter, while Brisbane and Perth recorded solid outperformances across the unit sector.
Regional housing values have continued to outpace the capitals, with values up 0.6% and 0.2% respectively over the month of April. This trend of regional home values rising at a faster pace than the capitals was a clear feature of the market through the pandemic but has once again become a theme in the monthly growth trends since October last year.
Stronger regional value growth has been broad-based, with every state except Tasmania recording a faster monthly pace of gains in regional values. However, regional SA and regional WA stood out with the most significant gains, up 1.5% and 1.3% respectively over the past month.
CoreLogic Australia