iscover
The month of June saw a 0.6 per cent rise in national home values, marking a fifth straight month of increases, as reported in Cotality’s July Home Value Index.
This is attributed to a quarterly rise of 1.4 per cent in house prices, higher than the 0.9 per cent increase in the preceding quarter.
Annually, values are up 3.4 per cent, placing the national median value at $837,586.
With borrowers treated to two rate cuts in 2025 and experts expecting more to follow, confidence has returned and subsequently pushed up prices.
“The first rate cut in February was a clear turning point for housing value trends. An additional cut in May, and growing certainty of more cuts later in the year have further fuelled positive housing sentiment, pushing values higher,” said Cotality’s research director Tim Lawless.
“Although value rises have been broad-based, the pace of growth remains mild compared to mid-2023 when the quarterly rate of growth in national home values peaked at 3.3 per cent, and for that matter, positively tepid relative to the extreme 8.1 per cent quarterly peak growth recorded through the height of the pandemic.”
Despite the return of buyer confidence amid the rate cuts, sales are below average.
Annual housing turnover is at an annualised rate of 4.9 per cent, below the decade average of 5.1 per cent.
Cotality said the reason behind the lagging sales is availability. Demand is struggling to keep up with supply.
Lawless said this is working to create a “more balanced market”.
“Although demonstrated demand is tracking slightly below average, advertised supply is scarce, creating a more balanced market for buyers and sellers,” he said.
“Improved selling conditions can be seen in auction clearance rates, which have risen to slightly above the decade average in the last two weeks of June, holding around the mid 60 per cent range.”
The June results are the nail in the coffin for falling house prices experienced at the tail end of 2024 and early 2025.
The last quarter of 2024 reported a 0.1 per cent decline in home values and, between November and January, prices saw a decrease of 0.3 per cent.
Throughout the June quarter, Darwin was the standout city for price growth, with dwelling values climbing 4.8 per cent. The month of June alone saw values rise 1.5 per cent.
The other cities saw quarterly price increases of:
- Sydney (1.1 per cent)
- Melbourne (1.1 per cent)
- Brisbane (2 per cent)
- Adelaide (1.1 per cent)
- Perth (2.1 per cent)
- Hobart (0.9 per cent)
- Canberra (0.3 per cent)
[Related: First home buyers capitalising on reduced interest rates]
