CoreLogic 's national hedonic index series results have indicated a slight respite for Australia's housing market, with the rate of decline easing over the past three months.

CoreLogic Head of Research Tim Lawless confirmed that the 0.6% drop in March was actually the smallest of the month-on-month declines since values fell by 0.5% in October last year.

"While the pace of falls slowed in March, the downturn has become geographically more widespread," he said.

At a glance: 

• CoreLogic's national hedonic index results for March show there has been 0.6% drop in house prices nationally, the smallest month-on-month decline since values fell by 0.5% in October last year.
• Dwelling values were down across six of the eight capital cities, with Canberra holding firm, while Hobart values were 0.6% higher.
• Most of the areas outside capital cities also recorded falls.

According to the data, dwelling values were down across six of the eight capital cities, with Canberra values holding firm while Hobart values were 0.6% higher.  

Most of the ‘rest of state’ regions, which comprise the areas outside the capital cities, also recorded a fall in values; the exceptions being regional Tasmania (+0.5%) and regional South Australia (+0.3%).

corelogic.jpg

National dwelling values have been trending lower for seventeen months and have fallen by a cumulative 7.4% since peaking in October 2017.

Despite the broad-based weakness, the national index remains 15.9% higher relative to dwelling values five years ago, highlighting that most property owners remain in a strong equity position. 

Markets where values peaked much earlier have shown a more substantial downturn.

In Darwin and Perth, where weak housing market conditions were driven by post-mining boom weaker economic and demographic conditions, dwelling values have fallen by a cumulative 27.5% and 18.1% respectively since peaking in 2014.

Mr Lawless said there were still positives for first home buyers in the current climate.

“The silver lining here is that housing is now very affordable and first home buyers are proportionally much more active relative to other areas of the country,” he said. 

"On the other hand, dwelling values remain at record highs across Hobart and regional Tasmania, and only marginally lower in Canberra (-0.2%), Adelaide (-0.5%) and Brisbane (-1.6%), as well as regional Victoria (-0.8%).

"Although housing market conditions remain relatively healthy in these regions, conditions have noticeably softened over the past twelve months with values either slipping or the pace of growth slowing materially."

Source: CoreLogic

Similar to this: 

CoreLogic March data captures shifting Australian property market

Regional property markets outpacing capital cities: CoreLogic

Brisbane property market leads nation as only city to record house price growth