In what will be disappointing news for first home buyers, Australian house prices have continued to rise over the past month, according to new data.
Average dwelling values climbed by 0.5 per cent in August, the 19th consecutive monthly increase in house prices tracked by CoreLogic's Home Value Index.
The median-valued home is now worth $802,357, jumping from $798,207 in July, but the findings indicate the pace of growth in the real estate market is showing signs of slowing.
Australia's capital cities were evenly split on house price rises and falls, a symptom of what CoreLogic has described as "a multi-speed market".
Parts of the country continued to see house prices rising, with Sydney (+0.3 per cent), Brisbane (+1.1 per cent), Adelaide (+1.4 per cent) and Perth (+2 per cent) increasing over the month.
On the other hand, there were declines in Melbourne (-0.2 per cent), Hobart (-0.1 per cent), Darwin (-0.2 per cent) and Canberra (-0.4 per cent) in August.
Eliza Owen, the head of research at CoreLogic, said on a national level, house prices had been rising consecutively for more than a year, which was "seemingly defying" the current economic climate.
Households have been grappling with the high cost of living and higher interest rates since the Reserve Bank started hiking in May 2022.
"But ultimately that trend [of rising prices] is slowing, and you can see that where the three-month growth rate in home values at 1.3 per cent is down from the same period of last year, where we had a 2.7 per cent growth rate," she told the ABC.
As for what this means for future house prices, Ms Owen said it was not clear whether easing growth could lead to a dip in the housing market.
"There are some potential upsides for household finances, things like the stage-3 tax cuts kicking in, real income is expected to increase, inflation is consistently coming down, and the potential for rate cuts next year," she said.
Some of Australia's major banks and economists expect reductions in the cash rate, which is currently at 4.35 per cent, could start later this year or early next year.
"However, there's no guarantee that that will actually boost housing demand because there's still so much affordability constraint and a wide disparity between what an affordable purchase price looks like and actual dwelling values across Australia," Ms Owen said.
"And you can also see that where housing demand is very skewed to cheaper pockets of the market."
She said buyers were looking at lower-priced or lower-socio-economic areas in major cities, where it was more affordable to buy.
Corelogic finds more sellers than buyers in Melbourne's market
One of the bigger stories to emerge in August was in Melbourne's real estate market, as it continued to drop down the list of median house price values.
Last month, real estate agents selling apartments around Melbourne's inner suburbs told the ABC they had noticed investor demand had dropped off.
The major city's median price is now the third-lowest among the capital city markets, slipping below Perth and Adelaide.
It is the first time that Perth's median dwelling value has been higher than Melbourne's since February 2015 and the first time ever that Adelaide had a higher median than Melbourne, according to CoreLogic.
Ms Owen described the situation as an "ongoing, or more entrenched downturn" in Melbourne's market.
"Listings volumes in Melbourne are currently 25 per cent higher than where you would usually see them this time of year," she said.
"And that's only being compounded now by the spring selling season. More people are trying to sell, total listings volumes are accruing and, at the end of the day, there's just way more sellers than there are buyers in the Melbourne market."
Sydney continues to have the most expensive real estate, with a median dwelling value — including both standalone houses and apartments —of $1,180,463, up 0.3 per cent from July.
Brisbane is in second place, with the median house price now valued at $875,040, and Canberra rounds out the top three with $845,875.
Queensland's capital city market gained some momentum earlier this year, moving up the list to claim the silver medal in May.
But CoreLogic noted a more pronounced slowdown in the quarterly growth rate between May (4.1 per cent) and August (2.9 per cent), suggesting an easing in demand as homes became less affordable for buyers.
"Brisbane had one of the most notable slowdowns in quarterly growth," Ms Owen said.
What's happening with rents?
There is also some good news in CoreLogic's recent monthly data for renters, with rent growth "slowing to a halt".
The national CoreLogic hedonic rent index was unchanged for a second consecutive month in August.
"On a monthly basis, Australian rent values have been flat for the past two months consecutively," Ms Owen said.
"Rent values have declined in Sydney for the past two months, and the annual rate of growth is still very high (7.2 per cent in the past year) but the annual growth trend is slowing."
CoreLogic believes a few factors are behind this slowdown, including a drop in net migration to Australia from March to December 2023.
The Reserve Bank of Australia's latest reporting also showed a slight uptick in household size, suggesting share housing and multi-generational housing may be on the rise.
