Perth worst performing city

Property values in Perth slipped in January with latest figures from RP Data showing the median price of a home dipped to $472,500.

The latest data put Perth as the worst performer with the city the only place to record a decrease. The median house price fell 0.6 per cent in January.

The nation's best performer was Darwin with the median house price rising 4.6 per cent to $475,000, followed by Melbourne, up 4.3 per cent to $455,00, and Canberra, up 4.3 per cent to $489,250.

The median price of a home Sydney rose 1.7 per cent to $494,500, Brisbane climbed 1.8 per cent to $440,000 and Adelaide grew by 3.2 per cent to $379,600.

Nationally, the median value of a home gained 1.8 per cent in January, and RP Data warned that the figure was drawn from a small sample of sales due to the seasonal summer slowdown.

RP Data national research director Tim Lawless said a number of positive market indicators suggested the residential market has started the 2010 with some confidence.

"Week-on-week, we are seeing an increase in the number of new property advertisements coming to the market," he said.

"Whilst new stock has been increasing rapidly, the total number of properties available for sale has been falling which is an indicator that buyers are for the time being outweighing sellers and new supply is being quickly consumed."

Meantime in further bad news for property owners, Perth also delivered the nation's lowest rental yields for units, recording a gross rental yield of 4.2 per cent.

Perth and Melbourne tied for lowest gross rental yield for houses of 3.8 per cent.

Darwin was the best performing city with a gross rental yield of 5.7 per cent for houses and 5.9 per cent for units.