Home values around the country have reversed their recent trend and are now on the rise again, according to new figures released this week by Cotality (formerly Corelogic).
The latest Australian dwelling values rose another 0.5 per cent in May, taking the national index 1.7 per cent higher over the first five months of the year.
Every capital city posted a rise through the month, led by Darwin (1.6 per cent) and to a lesser degree, Perth (0.7 per cent), Hobart and Brisbane both up 0.6 per cent, Sydney (0.5 per cent), and Melbourne, Adelaide, and Canberra all recording a lift of 0.4 per cent.
“The continued momentum we’re seeing across almost all markets is no doubt being fuelled by rate cuts – both those that have already happened, but also potential cuts in the coming months,” said Tim Lawless, Cotality’s research director, who also noted that auction clearance rates have picked up following the RBA’s May board meeting.
The rise in values comes after a short and shallow decline of just 0.4 per cent over the three months ending January 2025, with the February rate cut a key factor supporting the positive turn in housing values.
“With interest rates falling again in May, we are likely to see a further positive influence flowing through to housing values in June and through the rest of the year”, Lawless added.
Only Melbourne (down 1.2 per cent) and Canberra (down 0.7 per cent) have recorded an annual decline in dwelling values, demonstrating the resilience of the market through a period of relatively high interest rates and cost of living pressures.
The rise in housing values continues to be led by lower price tiers across most cities, however, there has been some convergence, as more expensive market segments start to accelerate off the back of rate cuts.
Across the state capitals, Sydney and Canberra are the only capital cities where the upper quartile is showing a stronger quarterly growth trend than the lower quartile of the market, while most other capitals have seen the upper quartile of the market narrow the gap in growth rates with the lower quartile and broad middle of the market.
Regional markets are also showing a positive trend, with each of the ‘rest of state’ markets recording a rise in values through the year-to-date. The strongest gains have been in Regional SA, where values are up 5.8 per cent over the first five months of 2025. At the other end of the spectrum, regional Tasmanian values have held reasonably flat over the same period, up just 0.1 per cent.