House prices decline in February

Perth house prices fell slightly in February, in line with the national downward trend for the month, according to the latest data from CoreLogic.

Perth recorded a 0.2 per cent fall in house prices in February, taking the annual price movement to a 2.7 per cent decline.

Nationally house prices dropped 0.4 per cent for the month, with Darwin (0.9 per cent) and Sydney (0.6 per cent) registering the largest falls.

Hobart house prices were up 0.7 per cent.

For the year to February, Australian capital city house prices have risen 1.5 per cent, led by a 13.1 per cent increase in Hobart and a 6.9 per cent jump in Melbourne.

Sydney (-0.5 per cent) and Darwin (-7.4 per cent) are the other cities with negative price growth for the year.

CorLogic head of research Tim Lawless said conditions improved in the second half of the month.

“The rate of decline eased over the second half of February although values have fallen in most capital cities during February, the CoreLogic daily index indicates that the rate of decline eased late in the month, in line with improving auction clearance rates,” he said

“Sydney, Melbourne and Perth all recorded more moderate falls in values throughout February than they did in January.”