ABS data reveals strong price growth for Canberra property

Canberra’s residential property prices grew 6 per cent in 12 months – a result second only to Melbourne.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities data on Tuesday and it also showed the nation’s capital had recorded a 2.2 per cent increase over the three months to June.

The figure placed Canberra above the national average of 2 per cent and behind Sydney and Melbourne’s quarterly growth of 2.8 and 2.7 per cent.

Canberra’s quarterly growth follows a fall in the March quarter of 0.4 per cent and a rise in the December quarter of 2.8 per cent.

It was ahead of Brisbane, which grew 1.1 per cent over the same period, while Perth and Darwin’s property prices fell 1.2 and 2.4 per cent, respectively.

Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said the strong results were unsurprising, with some capital cities playing catch up.

Sydney recorded its strong quarterly performance after two consecutive quarters of decline.

“It’s a rebound in growth after falling in the March quarter,” Dr Wilson said.

The Domain June House Price Report saw Sydney’s median house price push up past $1 million again, up 2.4 per cent.

He said Canberra was also in “catch-up mode” after a quiet period of activity.

“Canberra has been a top performer in both the annual and quarterly results,” Dr Wilson said.

“There’s no doubt that Canberra has stepped up a gear or maybe two gears after the last quarter.”

Over the year to June 2016, Melbourne outstripped all other capital cities with an 8.2 per cent increase in property prices – double the 4.1 per cent national growth rate.

The ABS data follows a recent affordability report by the Real Estate Institute of Australia and Adelaide Bank, which showed that the ACT was the only state or territory to record a decline in housing affordability over the June quarter.

According to ABS data, the ACT had the third highest mean property price in the country.

With a mean price of $622,900, the territory trailed NSW and Victoria’s mean prices of $799,500 and $646,400 respectively.