Small, steady gains help Canberra’s recovery

Canberra real estate continued in recovery mode in September, building on the year’s small but steady gains.

The latest CoreLogic Hedonic Home Value Index, published on October 2, shows Canberra recorded 0.2% growth in September, on the back of a 0.3% increase in August, a slight dip of 0.1% in July and 0.3% growth in June.

Since bottoming out in March, ACT property prices have surged by 0.9% across all dwellings – but the market still needs to make up some ground with values sitting 3% lower than a year ago.

The median dwelling value in Canberra is now $836,327 – a slight increase on August’s median.

By comparison, the national market sustained 0.8% growth in September, netting a boost of 3.9% for the year across all capital cities.

Windrose Property Principal and Licensed Agent Sam McGregor said Canberra’s market was the most stable it had been in recent months, noting small, measured and consistent price gains.

“The market is very steady at the moment – 0.2% is not really growth, but it’s definitely not going backwards either,” Sam said.

“Confidence in the market is balanced. Interest rates have not changed, we’re moving through spring and nothing is going crazy – neither good nor bad – it’s just moving.”

Sam said the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision on Tuesday to leave the cash rate on hold at 4.1% for the fourth consecutive month would bring further buyer confidence.

“The RBA decision this week reaffirms that too. We’re not going in-and-out, back-to-front, it’s just business as usual as we lead in to the end of the year,” he said.

“When the market is functioning the way it is, it means buyers are meeting sellers and sellers are meeting buyers – and that’s a great time to be making a decision about how they want to live because they’re not doing it based on necessary economic factors or market conditions. They’re saying: ‘Am I still happy living in this townhouse, or am I still happy living on this farm, or should I be looking at a different lifestyle?

“There’s no frenzy, no pressure and no arm-folding at front doors from buyers thinking that if they stick around for three months they’ll get a cheaper deal.

“We’ve had three or four months of prices not really doing much so buyers are making decisions about what’s in front of them, not what their crystal ball tells them.

“It’s a great time to be an agent who loves what they do because you’ve got to work with both sides and not rely on the environment you’re functioning in to do your work for you.”

CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless said with the current rate of growth, the national index would likely recover to a new nominal high by the end of November, but Canberra still had a way to go.

“We have already seen dwelling values reach new record highs in Perth and Adelaide. Brisbane looks set to reach a new record high in October, with home values currently only 0.6% below their previous peak,” he said.

“Hobart and Canberra have the furthest to go before staging a nominal recovery, with dwelling values remaining 12.4% and 7.0% below their cyclical highs from last year.”