The national Home Value Index (HVI) assembled by CoreLogic has recorded a third consecutive monthly rise. The index captured continued growth in May of 1.2%, helped by low levels of available housing supply as owners continued to hold properties. By comparison, home values for March and April grew 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. Notwithstanding the high uptick in price recovery, most housing markets across the country were still recording values well below their recent peaks. The recovery trend is most keenly seen in Sydney (up 1.8%), Brisbane (up 1.4%) and Perth (up 1.3%) over the month.

Tim Lawless, research director at Core Logic stated that premium housing markets in Sydney continued to lead the recovery trend and after recording a larger drop in values, Sydney’s upper quartile (the most expensive quarter) stood out with the highest rate of growth, gaining 5.6% over the past three months compared with a 2.6% rise in more affordable lower quartile values.

“Buyers targeting the premium sector of the market are still buying at well below peak prices,” Lawless said. “Although values across more expensive homes are rising more rapidly, at the end of May, dwelling values across Sydney’s upper quartile remained -11.8% below the January 2022 peak. This is the equivalent to a saving of around $213,000 from the cyclical high.”

Other capital cities recorded gains, however these were the only ones greater than 1.0%.Importantly, rising values was broad-based with the rate of growth accelerating across every capital city during May. Concurrent price trends in regional housing values has also picked up, with the combined regionals index rising half a percent in April, following a 0.2% and 0.1% rise in March and April.

Data assembled by CoreLogic also showed that advertised listings trended lower through May with roughly 1,800 fewer capital city homes advertised for sale relative to the end of April. The result of which means inventory levels are sitting 15.3% lower than they were at the same time last year and 24.4% below the previous five-year average for this time of year. “With such a short supply of available housing stock, buyers are becoming more competitive and there’s an element of FOMO creeping into the market,” Lawless added.

“Amid increased competition, auction clearance rates have trended higher, holding at 70% or above over the past three weeks. For private treaty sales, homes are selling faster and with less vendor discounting.”

As always, establishing asset selection criteria is key to ensuring investor’s purchasing decisions result in quality outcomes.

Partnering with experienced professionals will help investors make the best decision.

By Jane Purnell | | In Financial Goals, Lending, property |