Canberra home value increases have bucked a national slowdown, rising by 4.1 per cent in the April quarter when the median sale cost was $511,200.
Figures issued by RP Data and Rismark today labelled Canberra the country's best performing capital city, with the 4.1 per cent rise in values the highest increase of Australia's capital cities.
Overall, the companies' hedonic index, which is unrelated to the median sale prices and looks at the value of the overall market, showed that after 16 months of strong rises in home values, there was virtually no capital gain in April, when values were up a seasonally adjusted 0.3 per cent.
This gave quarterly growth of 2.4 per cent and left values 11.9 per cent higher than they were in April 2010.
RP Data research director Tim Lawless said it was the lowest monthly capital gain since the end of the global financial crisis-induced downturn in December 2008.
''A wide range of indicators have been hinting that a slowdown was on the cards. We are in a market now that has lower auction clearances, weaker home loan approvals, and lower consumer confidence. Combined with the six recent interest rate rises, and the fact that home values have recorded very large gains across key markets since the start of 2009, it is not surprising to see values start to track sideways,'' he said.
The national median dwelling price for a capital city home was $460,000 in April.
It comes as a Housing Industry Association report found surging new sales in Victoria, driven by first homebuyer support in the state, pushed up national new home sales by 6.2 per cent in April. There were no figures for the ACT.
''Detached new house sales increased by a healthy looking 6 per cent in April. Over the three months to April 2010, sales increased by 3 per cent to be 2 per cent higher when compared to the same period in 2009,'' it said.
''The volatile multi-unit sector posted a gain of 8 per cent in April, following two consecutive months of softer sales.
''Multi-unit sales continue to look weak overall and do not display an upward trend to match that of building approvals. The short-term outlook for actual construction remains very weak and a strong recovery in both sales and approvals through the remainder of 2010 will be necessary to alter that outlook.''
It said there was ''widespread anecdotal evidence of new home demand having taken a confidence hit from rising interest rates over the last two months''.
Source: The Canberra Times
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