There is a growing body of evidence that the worst of the downturn has passed and there are significant numbers of locations across Australia where prices are now rising.
We recently saw the publication of the latest price report from domain.com.au, which recorded growth in the median house prices of five of the eight capital cities in the December Quarter.
Now the latest Weekly Prices Index from SQM Research has provided more substance to the trend of positive price trends in a growing number of key markets.
According to the new SQM report, house prices grew in four of the eight capital cities during January, headed by the 2.7% rise in Adelaide.
The other cities to record rises were Brisbane, Perth and Darwin.
The results were even more positive for the apartment markets of our capital cities.
Canberra was the only capital city to record a decrease in its Prices Index for apartments.
Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Perth all recorded increases in their apartment prices in January, according to SQM Research.
Nationally, apartment prices rose 1.7% in January and were up 11.2% over the past 12 months.
That overall was a better result than for houses – but that too had a positive result in annual terms.
According to SQM, house prices are up 7.1% over the past 12 months, with every capital city except Sydney recording a rise in the 12 months to the end of January.
The market leaders in terms of annual growth in house prices are Perth and Adelaide, both rising by about 14%.
Even CoreLogic, consistently the most negative of the data providers in their relentless pursuit of publicity, has admitted in its February price report that the evidence suggests an improvement in the market – that the worst is over.
These figures, alongside those published recently by Domain, add further substance to our claim that the general media theme of prices falling everywhere – and continuing to fall – is simply untrue – and grossly misrepresents the state of property markets across Australia.
And they support my assessment that 2023 represents a time of great opportunity for property investors.
But only if you can tune out all that media white noise and understand what’s truly happening in our property markets.
Media continues to misreport and sensationalise the situation with house prices.
A serial offender is ABC Television, which continues to display poor journalistic standards in all areas of reporting, but notably in the reporting of housing market issues.
On 1 February ABC News declared: “House prices continue to fall right across the country.” This was simply untrue but “our ABC” the facts seldom matter.
Then bloated blowhard Alan Kohler appeared and repeated CoreLogic claims about prices as fact. At no stage did he say, as a real journalist should, “according to CoreLogic”.
The figures were simply presented as fact – and with no reference to the reality that other credible data sources disagree with these findings.
There was similar delivery from the SBS finance editor, Ricardo Gonsalves, who night after night stands before the cameras and regurgitates the contents of press releases, as facts, to the watching nation – with no journalistic scrutiny.
As consumers we deserve better from our public broadcasters, from media generally and from CoreLogic which appears to care little about helping consumers by providing genuine information and analysis.
