Home values still vulnerable, but early signs of stability start to show

Home values fell in all but two capital cities last week, where the remaining two remained flat, according to the latest CoreLogic data.

Combined, the daily home value index fell by 0.2 of a percentage point in the week ending 24 February.

Value fell in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth by 0.1 of a percentage point, 0.2 of a percentage point and 0.5 of a percentage point, respectively, and remained level in Brisbane and Adelaide, CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator data showed.

The monthly index was down by 0.9 of a percentage point for the week. It fell by 7.9 per cent for the year. Sydney, Melbourne and Perth are the main drivers at 10.3 per cent, 9.2 per cent and 6.6 per cent.

Listings lifted across some capital cities for the week, especially for units, but Sydney and Melbourne houses remained underwater, down by 25.3 per cent and 24.2 per cent each.

House sales remained more popular than units, and the average time for houses on market continued to remain high in most capital cities. Hobart faired best at 45 days, but Perth and Darwin were both in the 80 days-plus zone at 88 days and 85 days, respectively.

For units, Hobart stood out at 33 days, but Perth was still on the wrong side of 100, at 104 days.

Vendor discounting was between 5.7 per cent and 8.1 per cent for houses across most capital cities, and between 5.9 per cent and 7.5 per cent for units.

Canberra was the low-end exception for both houses and units, at 3.7 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.

Sydney was the high-end exception for houses at 8.9 per cent, while Perth was the high-end exception for units at 8.6 per cent.