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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Brittney Levinson

ACT home values rise again, putting sellers back in 'driver's seat'

Canberra house values have risen for the second month in a row, however the pace of growth has stalled.

House values in Canberra rose 0.5 per cent in June, to a median of $954,079, the latest CoreLogic home value index revealed.

Unit values, which includes apartments and townhouses, fell a marginal 0.2 per cent to a median of $597,580.

Combining all housing types, Canberra dwelling values rose 0.4 per cent for the month. It follows a 0.4 per cent rise in May.

It was a modest increase compared to national home value index, which rose 1.1 per cent in June.

Sydney led the home value recovery, posting a 1.7 per cent increase across all dwelling types.

CoreLogic head of research Eliza Owen said property conditions had once again turned in favour of sellers, rather than buyers.

"Selling conditions across Canberra became fairly sluggish, quite abruptly, when the underlying cash rate started to rise," she said.

"But this is starting to turn around."

First quarterly growth since peak

Ms Owen said while the volume of new Canberra property listings slowed down through June, buyer demand does not appear to have fallen as quickly.

The level of seller discounting also improved in the June quarter.

The improvement in selling conditions was reflected in a 0.8 per cent rise in Canberra's quarterly home values, the first quarterly increase since the recent peak in June 2022.

"Overall, the trend in the June quarter trend speaks to more potential sellers taking a backseat and waiting for further improvements in selling conditions," Ms Owen said.

The conditions are likely to improve further for sellers if the listing trend continues, she said.

Despite a slowdown in new property listings through June, sales volumes had been resilient.

"It looks like there's around 1.5 sales occurring for every new listing being added to the market," Ms Owen said.

Total listings in Canberra now appear to be falling as a result of stable sales volumes.

"If the current trajectory continues, we'll soon see total stock levels dip below where they were in 2022, which again puts sellers in more of a driver's seat," Ms Owen said.

Rental conditions were varied across the capital cities, but generally rental appreciation had slowed, the index found.

Canberra was the only capital city to record a fall in median rents over the past 12 months, down 2.8 per cent.

The rental yield in Canberra was 3.7 per cent for houses and 5.1 per cent for units.

Home values dependent on future cash rate changes

Future home value performance was largely dependent on the trajectory of interest rates, CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said in the monthly index.

"Forecasts on where the cash rate will land and how long it will stay elevated vary, but it's likely there is at least one more rate hike to come, potentially more," he said.

"It's hard to imagine the recent pace of growth in housing values being sustained while sentiment is close to recessionary lows and the full complement of borrowers are yet to experience the rate hiking cycle in full."

Property listing were also a key factor in house value changes.

"At the moment we aren't seeing any signs that advertised housing stock is rising, at least at a macro level," Mr Lawless said.

"This will be a key trend to watch moving forward."

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Canberra home values rose in June for the second consecutive month. Picture by Dion Georgopoulos
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