By James Glynn
SYDNEY--Australian house prices remained in steady retreat in January, with the median dwelling price in Sydney falling below 1 million Australian dollars (US$705,900) for the first time since March 2021.
CoreLogic's national home value index fell 1.0% in January, a slight improvement on the 1.1% decline recorded in December, and the smallest month-on-month decline since June last year.
The reduction in the rate of decline was evident across most capital cities, CoreLogic said Wednesday.
January marked a new record for how much and how fast dwelling values have fallen in Australia. Based on the monthly index, the national HVI is down 8.9% since peaking in April last year, making this the largest and fastest decline in values since at least 1980, when CoreLogic's records began.
House prices were in retreat through most of 2022 from record highs as the Reserve Bank of Australia moved aggressively to raise interest rates to rein in the biggest surge in inflation since the early 1990s.
Still, house prices haven't collapsed as many mortgagees have significant savings buffers, while the unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest levels since the early 1970.
A bigger test for house prices will emerge over the coming months as large numbers of borrowers shift from record-low fixed-interest-rate mortgage repayments to now much-higher variable interest rates that will add thousands to the average mortgage repayment every year.
CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless said that although the housing downturn remains geographically broad-based, there are signs some momentum has left the housing downturn.
"The quarterly trend in housing values is clearly pointing to a reduction in the pace of decline across most regions, however at -1.0% over the month and -3.2% over the rolling quarter, national housing values are still falling quite rapidly compared to previous downturns," he said.
Write to James Glynn at james.glynn@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-31-23 0815ET
