The property market’s fastest upswing on record, accompanied by a rapid increase in housing credit and highly elevated sales volumes, has significantly supported Australia’s economic recovery from the impacts of the pandemic.

CoreLogic’s Economic & Property Review explored housing market trends to the end of November 2021, providing a national overview of the $9.4 trillion sector’s performance within the current economic landscape.

National dwelling values rose 22.2%, comprised of a 25.2% lift across regional Australia and a 21.3% rise in combined capital city dwelling values in the 12 months to November 2021.

In the same period, there were 614,635 dwelling sales across the country, the highest annual sales volume since 2003. Some market jurisdictions recorded house price growth around 30%.

CoreLogic’s Head of Research Eliza Owen says strong housing market activity has been supported by a combination of factors, including government stimulus measures, pandemic era savings, low interest rates and subdued levels of available stock.

“Housing-related government support such as the First Home Loan Deposit and HomeBuilder schemes and non-housing fiscal stimulus, such as JobKeeper, helped many Australians service housing costs,” she says.

“Alongside home loan repayment deferrals, these household support measures stabilised the supply-side of housing through 2020 by preventing distressed sales, and these repayment deferrals were re-introduced amid lockdowns in 2021.”

Australia’s household savings rate also increased to 23.6% against a then decade average of 6.9% on the back of pandemic lockdowns and inhibited spending.