Property Update - April 2025

Monthly highlights
 

• After falling for three consecutive months, the rolling quarterly trend for national dwelling values ended Q1 in positive territory, with values up 0.7%.

• After some early exuberance following the February rate cut, the rolling change in Sydney dwelling values has started to lose momentum, easing from a 0.7% increase over the four weeks to March 15th to a 0.1% lift in the 28 days to April 8th.

• While monthly sales activity has continued to ramp up from seasonal lows, with CoreLogic estimating 42,552 sales nationally in March, the rolling annual sales count has fallen -2.1% since the recent peak of 539,743 in December last year. Despite the slowdown, the 12 monthly sales estimates for March, at 528,212, remain 4.6% higher than this time last year and 4.1% above the previous five-year average.

• The flow of freshly advertised properties has continued to hold -4.1% below the levels typically seen this time of year, with just shy of 40,000 new listings seen over the four weeks to March 30th. The trend in new listings is expected to peak the week prior to Easter, before easing over the colder winter months.

• After showing some exuberance following the February rate cut, capital city clearance rates have trended lower over the month, with the combined capitals rate falling below the 60% mark in the week ending March 30th(59.4%). Over the four weeks to March 30th, Adelaide had the highest average success rate at 64.5%, followed by Sydney (62.9%) and Melbourne (62.3%). In Perth, 56.4% of auctions were successful, while the average clearance rate in Canberra and Brisbane came in at 54.9% and 53.3%, respectively.

• Despite a seasonal uptick in the quarterly measure (1.7%), the rolling 12-month change in national rental values has continued to lose momentum, with rents up 3.8% over the year to March. The lowest annual change in rents in four years, this month's reading is just 1.8 percentage points above the pre-COVID decade average of 2.0%.

• Dwelling approvals remained just -1.8% below the previous 10-year average, with 16,606 approvals seen in February. Despite feasibility concerns, the unit segment has continued to outperform, with the monthly count holding above the decade average (+2.7%) for the second consecutive month. In contrast, approvals in the detached segment were somewhat soft, coming in -5.0% below the 10-year average.

• Despite inflation easing into the target range and the labour market showing weaker outcomes in February, the hold decision was widely anticipated, with the rate-cutting cycle expected to be drawn out and cautious amid global uncertainty.

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