Melbourne housing market update [video] | April 2024

Last month's 0.6% lift in national home values marked the 14th consecutive month-on-month rise, taking the index 1.6% or about $12,000 higher in the March quarter.

Since declining 7.5% in the downturn between April 2022 and January 2023, the national home value index has increased by 10.2%, adding approximately $72,000 to the median value of a home and pushing to new record highs each month since November last year.

The national quarterly pace of growth accelerated from 1.4% in Q4 last year to 1.6% in Q1 this year.

Melbourne has continued a relatively weak run of growth in housing values, with the market down 0.2% over the March quarter.

However, an undersupply of housing relative to demand continues to keep upwards pressure on home values despite these headwinds.

The monthly movements in housing values across our capital cities continue to be punctuated by diversity.

At one end of the spectrum, we have Perth, where housing values are up 1.9% over the month, followed by Adelaide and Brisbane with 1.4% and 1.1% monthly growth.

The remaining capitals are showing much lower rates of a change, although Melbourne is the only capital city to record a negative quarterly movement, down 0.2% over the first three months of the year.

The unit market is a little weaker, with values down 0.3% compared with a 0.1% fall in house values.

Regional housing markets are also recording a rise in values with similar levels of diversity as their capital city counterparts.

Regional Victoria stands out with the softest growth conditions, with values down 0.3% in the first quarter of the year, the only broad rest of the state region to record a decline in values through the year to date.

Demand for housing has been holding up well, despite the higher cost of debt and low sentiment.

Across the sub-regions of Melbourne, quarterly growth has been most pronounced across Melbourne City, where values are up 3.3% in Q1, reflecting strong conditions across the higher-density inner-city precincts.

Despite the soft growth conditions, the number of home sales was tracking 18% higher than a year ago and almost 6% above the previous five-year average, although rising from a relatively low base.

You may also want to read:

National Housing Market Update [Video] 

Perth Housing Market Update [Video]

Adelaide Housing Market Update [Video]

Sydney Housing Market Update [Video]

Brisbane Housing Market Update [Video]

About Tim Lawless Tim heads up the Core Logic RP Data research and analytics team, analysing real estate markets, demographics and economic trends across Australia. Visit www.corelogic.com.au