SYDNEY, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Australia's surging property prices have shown signs of cooling as month-on-month growth fell, and prices in the nation's two most populous and pricey cities, Sydney and Melbourne, began to slip.
A new report from property analytics company, CoreLogic, released on Friday has shown that property prices in Australia's capital cities grew by just 0.3 percent in March, as prices in Sydney dropped 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent in Melbourne.
This is the second consecutive month that house prices in Sydney have declined, falling 0.1 percent in February, and the first month in Melbourne after prices plateaued last month.
Research Director of CoreLogic's Asia-Pacific research division Tim Lawless said "virtually every capital city" passed a peak in prices last year and were beginning to trend downwards.
"The sharpest slowdown has been in Sydney, where housing prices are the most unaffordable, advertised supply is trending higher and sales activity is down over the year," said Lawless alongside Friday's report.
Australia's housing market has experienced record year-on-year growth. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) house prices grew by 23.7 percent in the nation's eight capital cities in 2021.
This rapid growth has in part been attributed to low interest rates as set by the Reserve Bank of Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic, however the rates are predicted to rise by the middle of the year.
Lawless said expectations for interest rates paint only part of the picture behind the slowdown, citing increased supply and rising uncertainty.
"With rising global uncertainty and the potential for weaker consumer sentiment amidst tighter monetary policy settings, the downside risk for housing markets has become more pronounced in recent months," he said. ■
