By Michael Yardney February 10, 2025

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This week’s Australian Property Market Update – Latest Data, State by State February 11th 2025

Property Market News
This week’s Australian Property Market Update – Latest Data, State by State February 11th 2025

Key takeaways

As we kick off 2025, the Australian property market presents a complex landscape of opportunities and challenges.

With interest rates likely to fall next week, there is a sense of cautious optimism among investors and homebuyers alike.

This week, CoreLogic Research reports that:

*Sydney property prices fell -0.1%over the last week, fell -0.4% over the last month and are 1.4% higher than they were 12 months ago.

*Melbourne property prices remained flat over the last week, fell -0.5% over the last month, and are -3.4% lower compared to 12 months ago.

*Brisbane property prices increased by 0.1% over the last week, increased 0.3% over the last month and are 10.2% higher than they were 12 months ago.

Overall, Australian capital dwelling prices fell -0.2% over the last month and are now 3.7% higher than they were 12 months ago.

1,712 auctions were held across the combined capitals last week and week saw the combined capitals preliminary clearance rate rise to 67.4%, the highest early result since the week ending October 20th (also 67.4%).

This current property cycle has been driven by an undersupply of good properties relative to current demand pushing up property values and rents there was nothing to suggest there will be any significant change in the near future.

Unfortunately, the undersupply properties is going to persist for some time with all commentators agreeing that there is no way we're going to hit the housing construction targets required to meet our demand.

As we kick off 2025, the Australian property market presents a complex landscape of opportunities and challenges.

According to the latest CoreLogic Home Value Index, house prices are showing signs of stabilisation after the a strong performance last year.

With interest rates likely to fall next week, there is a sense of cautious optimism among investors and homebuyers alike.

Meanwhile, regional markets are continuing to outperform metropolitan areas, a trend driven by the ongoing preference for spacious living and remote work capabilities.

At the same time capital city rents are rising ( but not as quickly as last year) and vacancy rates are falling slightly.

The dynamics of supply and demand are clearly shifting, with a notable increase in new listings, providing fresh choices for buyers and stirring competition among sellers.

We now wait for the RBA's deicison next week.

On the auction front... 1,712 auctions held across the combined capitals last week.

Last week saw the combined capitals preliminary clearance rate rise to 67.4%, the highest early result since the week ending October 20th (also 67.4%).

According to CoreLogic, auction volumes continue to ramp up.

See Corelogic's full auction report below.

This week, CoreLogic also reports that:

Sydney property prices fell -0.1%over the last week, fell -0.4% over the last month and are 1.4% higher than they were 12 months ago.
Melbourne property prices remained flat over the last week, fell -0.5% over the last month, and are -3.4% lower compared to 12 months ago.

Brisbane property prices increased by 0.1% over the last week, increased 0.3% over the last month and are 10.2% higher than they were 12 months ago.

Overall, Australian capital dwelling prices fell -0.2% over the last month and are now 3.7% higher than they were 12 months ago.

Clearly, the property cycle is moving on but our markets are very fragmented.

Source: CoreLogic February 10th 2025

Of course, these are "overall" figures - there is not one Sydney or Melbourne or Brisbane property market.

And various segments of each market are performing differently.

At the beginning of this cycle the upper quartile of the market lead the upswing but last year the lower quartile across every capital city recorded a stronger outcome for housing values relative to its upper quartile counterpart.

The following chart shows how various segments of each capital city market are performing differently with median-priced properties performing well.

To help keep you up-to-date with all that's happening in property, here is my updated weekly analysis of data and charts as of 10th February 2025 provided by SQM Research, CoreLogic, and realestate.com.au.

Current property asking prices

Property asking prices are a useful leading indicator for housing markets - giving a good indication of what's ahead.

Here is the latest data available:

Sydney

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	1,970,063	-18.344	-0.2%	1.9%
All Units	840,006	-7.806	0.8%	5.5%
Combined	1,511,525	-14.068	0.0%	2.4%

Source: SQM Research

Melbourne

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	1,252,249	-3.2.57	-0.7%	1.6%
All Units	613,151	-0.351	-0.2%	2.8%
Combined	1,051,065	-2.343	-0.6%	1.6%

Source: SQM Research

Brisbane

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	1,197,610	-7.103	-0.2%	15.7%
All Units	678,249	-1.049	0.4%	17.8%
Combined	1,067,552	-5.587	-0.1%	15.9%

Source: SQM Research

Perth

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	1,107,115	7.785	0.7%	19.2%
All Units	605,458	2.506	1.4%	25.7%
Combined	975,950	6.405	0.8%	20.1%

Source: SQM Research

Adelaide

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	990,889	7.924	1.5%	14.5%
All Units	524,754	-3.654	3.2%	19.7%
Combined	907,141	5.844	1.7%	15.0%

Source: SQM Research

Canberra

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	1,188,977	-10.228	-1.2%	-1.0%
All Units	597,595	-0.108	1.5%	-1.1%
Combined	970,690	-6.493	-0.6%	-1.5%

Source: SQM Research

Darwin

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	716,130	6.870	2.0%	8.1%
All Units	409,949	-1.616	0.2%	8.9%
Combined	595,961	3.539	1.5%	8.3%

Source: SQM Research

Hobart

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	812,809	1.645	1.3%	2.2%
All Units	506,758	-1.958	1.1%	0.1%
Combined	766,387	1.098	1.3%	1.9%

Source: SQM Research

National

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	963,473	-2.040	0.8%	6.5%
All Units	568,962	-0.502	-0.4%	6.5%
Combined	878,467	-1.709	0.7%	6.4%

Source: SQM Research

Cap City Average

Property type	Price ($)	Weekly Change	Monthly Change %	Annual % change
All Houses	1,418,170	-17.109	-0.8%	5.0%
All Units	710,683	-8.428	0.0%	6.5%
Combined	1,208,390	-14.535	-0.7%	5.0%

Source: SQM Research

The value of property asking prices as a leading indicator for housing markets is quite significant.

In fact it's more valuable than median prices which can be quite misleading.

Let's delve into why this is the case and how it impacts the real estate market.

Early Market Sentiment Indicator: Asking prices often reflect the current sentiment of sellers in the real estate market.

If sellers are confident, they might set higher asking prices, anticipating strong demand.
Conversely, if sellers are uncertain or perceive a market downturn, they might lower their asking prices to attract buyers.
This makes asking prices a real-time indicator of market sentiment, often preceding changes in actual sales prices.
Predictive of Future Price Trends: Trends in asking prices can be predictive of where the actual property prices are headed.
For example, a consistent rise in asking prices over a period can signal an upcoming rise in transaction prices.
Impact of Economic Factors: Economic factors such as interest rates, employment rates, and broader economic health influence asking prices.
For instance, changes in the Reserve Bank of Australia's policies or shifts in the job market can quickly reflect in the asking prices, providing insights into how these factors are influencing the housing market.
Regional Variations: In a diverse market like Australia's, asking prices can also provide insights into regional disparities.
For instance, the property markets in Melbourne and Sydney might behave differently from those in Brisbane or Perth. Asking prices can give early indications of these regional trends.
Influence of Supply and Demand: Asking prices are also a response to the balance of supply and demand in the market.
In areas with limited supply and high demand, asking prices tend to be higher and vice versa.

However, it's important to note that while asking prices are a valuable indicator, they should not be used in isolation.

Other factors like actual sales prices, time on the market, auction clearance rates, and economic conditions also play crucial roles in understanding the property market dynamics.

Last weekend's auction report

Auction volumes continue to ramp up

The number of homes going under the hammer is continuing to ramp up, with 1,712 auctions held across the combined capitals last week.

This is a solid rise from the previous week, when 1,390 homes were auctioned, and above levels a year ago when 1,642 properties were taken to market by auction.

We expect the volume of auctions will continue to trend higher, rising slightly this week to around 1,750 before jumping to approximately 2,450 next week.

Melbourne recorded the largest number of auctions, with 685 homes taken to auction last week, of which 68.4% have been reported as sold so far; the highest preliminary clearance rate so far this year.

The volume of auctions held across Sydney jumped from 453 the week prior to 642 last week, with the preliminary clearance rate coming in at 73.0%, the highest since the week ending September 8th last year (73.2%).

Brisbane led the volume across the smaller auction markets, with 211 homes going under the hammer last week returning an early clearance rate of 50.7% (down from 58.7% the week prior and 55.3% in the last week of January).

102 auctions were held across Adelaide, returning a preliminary clearance rate of 63.3%, up from 61.7% the previous week which revised slightly higher to 65.3% on the final results.

Canberra held 62 auctions, and so far, 64.1% have been reported as successful (down from 68.7% the week prior which revised sharply lower to 57.7% once finalised).

Our rental markets

Rental growth bounced slightly higher in January, up 0.4% over the month.

This follows a subdued second half of 2024 where the national rental index rose just 0.4% between June and December.

Every capital recorded a subtle rise in rents over the month, however the trend is clearly pointing to an ongoing easing in rental price growth (not a decrease in rents - they're just not growing as much.).

On an annual basis, Australian rents were up 4.4%, which is still more than double the pre-COVID decade average of
2.0% annual growth.

However, with rental growth slowing more visibly through the second half of last year, the annual change in rents is likely to fall to below-average levels in the first half of 2025.