Australians are normally a careful people when it comes to money, and the prospect of a federal election is enough to put most property purchases on hold as buyers wait to see which party and policies win the day. Not this time.
Buyer demand for homes across Australia showed no sign of stalling as the politicians and ideologies battled away, and we queued for our “Democracy Sausage” on polling day.
Property values rose an average $2,720 during the election campaign – a monthly 0.3% increase that created another national record-high, according to the latest data from market researcher Cotality (formerly CoreLogic).
Bellwether markets Sydney and Melbourne moved up 0.2% but didn’t keep pace with a resurgent Darwin (+1.1%).
Our market positivity is even more remarkable for the fact that it occurred as the US put a 10% tariff on Australian goods and incited a trade war with China.
Cotality research director Tim Lawless offered a note of caution, saying that while values were unaffected by recent events, they had hurt sales numbers and the volume of homes being listed.
However, that’s likely to change following the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia to cut rates another 0.25% to 3.85% – a significant drop from its post-Covid high of 4.65%.
Mr Lawless said he expected “modest rises” in property values for the rest of the year.
The latest Cotality housing index also showed regional housing values continued to outpace the capitals, with values up 0.6%. This trend began last October, with only Tasmania missing out. Regional South Australia (+1.5%) and regional Western Australia (+1.3%) are enjoying the largest gains.
Sydney values remain -1.1% below their September 2024 high and Melbourne values are down -5.4% from its 2022 peak. Hobart is -11.1% off its record level, while in Darwin and ACT values remain -2.7% and -6.4% below their all-time highs.