House prices rose in nearly every capital in Australia last month, but fell in Melbourne, a new survey has indicated.
The CoreLogic November Hedonic Home Value Index showed that the average property price increased by 0.2 per cent since October, with the only place to buck the trend being Melbourne with it's 1.5 per cent fall.
Darwin saw the highest increase at 3.7 per cent, followed by Adelaide at 2.9 per cent. Hobart came third at 0.9 per cent and Sydney was fourth on 0.8 per cent. Prices were also up by 0.6 per cent in Perth and 0.4 per cent in Brisbane, while they were static in Canberra.
Report author Tim Lawless said: "Delving into the Melbourne results in more detail showed that unit values were down a larger 3.2 per cent in November, while Melbourne house values declined by 1.3 per cent over the month."
How much can be read into one month's results is open to question. Overall, the three months of spring witnessed a rise of 1.7 per cent in capital city property values, much better than the equivalent period in 2015, which saw a drop of 0.2 per cent.
Moreover, the annual figures still make healthy reading in Melbourne, with an 11.3 per cent year-on-year rise, second only to Sydney's 13.1 per cent. Hobart has also emerged as a strong market with 8.5 per cent growth, while Canberra's flat November belies its annualised average increase of 8.4 per cent. Indeed, with Darwin bouncing back strongly after months of slight decline, the only city now showing a fall in prices from 12 months ago is Perth.
Mr Lawless said the current period of continued nationwide house price growth has been going on for four-and-a-half years, although it has focused strongly on Sydney and Melbourne, with growth of 67.3 and 46.3 per cent respectively, whereas Perth has seen a rise of only 6.9 per cent. Like Darwin, it has endured a relative decline since 2014.
