Home values dropped in most capital cities in Australia for the month of February, with national dwelling value slipping by 0.1%.
According to the CoreLogic Home Value Index, the dip in national home values was a moderation from the previous two months' 0.3% negative growth. This marked the first time national values had fallen for five consecutive months since March 2016.
Over the month, dwelling values fell across every capital, with Darwin registering the biggest dip of 0.9%. Only Hobart posted an upside with a 0.7% increase in home values. Meanwhile, Adelaide reported no movement in values for the month.
CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said the rate of decline eased late in the month, thanks to the boost of improving auction clearance rates. In fact, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth all posted more moderate falls in values throughout February than they did in January.
However, the quarterly changes in dwelling values seem to indicate a sluggish house market, as more drastic declines were seen in most of these cities. For instance, Sydney home values went down by 2.4% compared to three months ago, followed by Darwin (-2.0%), and Melbourne (-0.4%). Still, Hobart remained on the positive territory, with a home value appreciation of around 3.2% over the past three months.
"The overall softening in the market becomes more evident when looking at the change in values over the past three months," Lawless said.
It is also important to note that regional markets are beating capital ones in the game of home values, with the former recording a 0.4% monthly growth in February versus the 0.3% decline of the latter.
CoreLogic's table below details the change in dwelling values of capital cities and the whole of Australia.
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