SYDNEY, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Australian house prices fell for the seventh consecutive month in October as the downturn reached the fastest pace in 40 years, according to new data.
Property data firm Cotality said on Monday that the national median house price fell by 1.2 percent in October, taking the downturn into a seventh consecutive month.
It said that the national price has declined by 6.7 percent from its March peak, wiping 63,400 Australian dollars (about 44,565 U.S. dollars) in value off the median Australian dwelling.
Cotality said that the pace of decline in national home values is now tracking at the fastest pace over the last 40 years.
The monthly fall was driven by a 1.4 percent decline in the median capital city house price, accelerating from a 1.2 percent fall in September.
Brisbane overtook Sydney as the capital with the fastest pace of decline, recording a 2.0 percent drop in median house prices in October.
On a quarterly basis, Cotality said median prices across all capitals declined by 4.5 percent.
Tim Lawless, Cotality's research director, attributed the downturn to an array of headwinds, including interest rate hikes, persistently low confidence, cost-of-living pressures and a move by the federal government to wind back tax concessions for property investors.
The Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board at the end of September voted to raise the cash rate target by 0.25 percentage points for the fourth time in 2026 to a 15-year high of 4.6 percent.
The board will meet again to consider the key interest rate over Monday and Tuesday, with all four major banks predicting a fifth rise to an 18-year high of 4.85 percent. ■