Sydney house prices surge by 30 per cent

CoreLogic’s October home values index revealed dwelling values jumped 1.5 per cent over the month. While that rate still makes the market “booming”, it was the slowest growth since values increased 0.7 per cent in January. MORE: Karl Stefanovic’s Sydney house up for grabsNicole Kidman leads celebrities moving to this NSW region18 year-old buys $5m Sydney mansionThe market appears to have peaked in March, when property prices jumped by 3.7 per cent in Sydney. During October house values climbed by 1.6 per cent or just over $20,000 to a median value of $1,333,767, while apartments increased 1.2 per cent to $837,262. Home seekers would have needed about $999,237 to afford the average freestanding house at this time last year but now need to budget 30.4 per cent more at $1.333 million.Coastal areas that offered key lifestyle attributes remained the strongest performing regions in Sydney. The northern beaches have seen dwelling values rise 40 per cent over the past year to a median value of $2.3 million, while the Sutherland Shire was up 32 per cent and Central Coast saw a 34 per cent increase.“Demand preferences shaped by Covid-19 has been focused heavily in lifestyle areas by the beach,” CoreLogic head of residential research Eliza Owen said.“This has not just been the came in regional towns, but also in the city.”Regional NSW outperformed Sydney with house prices up 2.2 per cent to $671,673, while apartment nudged up 1.6 per cent higher to $535,720.Ms Owen said worsening housing affordability, rising supply levels, and less stimulus were slowing the housing market. “Growth is slowing due to affordability constraints and bottoming out of mortgage rates, with a number of providers lifting those rates,” Ms Owen said.“Today also marks the start of mortgage serviceability levels, which could see the market tighten even more.”Ms Owen said the values were also being suppressed by a flood of new listings, which have surged by 47 per cent since September. “Prices are still very strong, no matter how you look at it, but we are starting to see a change,” she said.CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said homebuyers would focus more on apartment options as the price gap between units and houses widens to $500,000.“With investors becoming a larger component of new housing finance, we may see more demand flowing into medium to high density properties,” he said.“Investor demand across the unit sector could be bolstered as overseas borders open, which is likely to have a positive impact on rental demand, especially across inner city unit precincts.”Canberra has become the second most expensive capital in the country for houses after it overtook Melbourne, while Brisbane had the fastest growth in Australia with housing values up 2.5 per cent. Via news.com.au — Australia’s leading news site https://www.news.com.au