Perth house prices rocket

Perth’s house prices continue to grow at a faster rate than other parts of Australia, with home values in the capital city lifting by 15.2 per cent in 2023.

CoreLogic’s latest home value index shows Perth’s house prices grew to $660,754 in December, up 1.5 per cent on the previous month.

This compared with a 0.4 per cent national increase in the same period, as Perth continues to outpace the nation in its rate of home value growth.

Perth remains one of the most affordable capitals in Australia to live, with the third lowest median value.

The city has pushed above Hobart for the first time since March 2018, with the Tasmanian capital’s home value dipping 0.3 per cent last month to $656,947.

Nationally, home values rose 8.1 per cent in 2023, to a $757,746 median.

Sydney continues to record the highest house prices, at a $1.13 million median value.

Brisbane has overtaken Melbourne in second spot, with a median of $787,217, compared with the latter capital’s $780,457.

Source: CoreLogic

Melbourne’s home values dropped by 0.3 per cent in December, while Brisbane’s index rose by 1 per cent.

Brisbane showed the second highest annual growth behind Perth, at 13.1 per cent for 2023.

Adelaide’s home values continue to rise, with a 1.2 per cent increase to $711,604 in December, and an annual growth of 8.8 per cent.

Hobart and Darwin were the only cities to record a decline in home values last year, dropping by 0.8 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively.

Darwin continues to be the most affordable capital, with a $469,309 median value.

In December, national home values increased by 0.4 per cent, which was CoreLogic’s lowest recorded rate of increase in 2023.

Source: CoreLogic

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said national home values in 2023 saw a significant turnaround on the previous year, where they dropped by 4.9 per cent.

However, it was well below the surge recorded in 2021.

“This was the smallest gain in our national monthly HVI since values started rising in February,” Mr Lawless said.

“After monthly growth in home values peaked in May at 1.3 per cent, a rate hike in June and another in November, along with persistent cost of living pressures, worsening affordability challenges, rising advertised stock levels and low consumer sentiment, have progressively taken some heat out of the market through the second half of the year.”

He added that one of the main trends throughout 2023 was the widening disparity in the rate of home value growth across the capital cities.

“Such diversity across the capital cities can be broadly attributed to factors relating to demand and supply,” he said. 

“In Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane, housing affordability challenges haven’t been as pressing relative to the larger cities, and advertised supply levels have remained persistently and substantially below average. 

“The cities where home value growth has been lower or negative through the year are showing higher than average levels of advertised supply alongside annual home sales which ended the year below the five year average.”

REA Group's Proptrack index recorded an annual national increase of 5.52 per cent, with Perth leading the charge at 14.75 per cent.