Perth the standout as house price growth slows in September quarter: ABS

Capital city house price growth slowed in the September quarter to 0.3%, led by a 1.8% rise in Perth's house price index to a median of $489,000, according to preliminary figures from the ABS.

If past revision history is anything to go by, Perth house prices are likely to be revised upwards in the December quarterly update, which is released in February.

The ABS revised its Perth June quarter result upwards from 0.6% to 1.2%, with Perth house prices now up 4.4% for the year to September.

The preliminary estimate for Perth follows rises in the previous three quarters (+0.5%, +0.9% and +1.2%), with the rise in the September quarter 2012 “driven by clusters with median prices below $700,000”.

Recently released RP Data-Rismark figures (which are not revised) show Perth house prices up 0.9% for the October quarter and up 3.8% year-on-year to a median of $475,000.

The ABS 0.3% rise for to the weighted average of the eight capital cities follows the previously reported June quarter increase of 0.5% being revised upwards to 0.6%.

As a consequence, the through-the-year movement has been revised from an estimated fall of 2.1% to an estimated fall of 1.9%.

Sydney also recorded an increase of 0.3% to $605,000, following falls in the previous two quarters.

Sydney house prices are 1.3% for the first nine months of the year, with the ABS noting that the small September quarter gain was driven by “clusters with median prices at the top and bottom of the range of prices.

“These rises were offset by falls in clusters with median prices between $650,000 and $1 million."

Melbourne’s house price index rose 0.2% to $468,000, the first rise in six quarters, to leave house prices down 2.3% for the year to September.

Brisbane house prices gained 0.4% to $434,000, while Hobart was up 0.2% to $348,000.

These rises was partially offset by falls in Adelaide (-0.6% to $384,000), Canberra (-1.1% to $535,000) and Darwin (-0.5% to $547,000).

The ABS also made revisions to capital city data for both June (first revision) and March (second and final revision) quarters

In June: Sydney (+1.5%, revised from +1.4%), Perth (+1.2%, revised from +0.6%), Adelaide (+0.4%, revised from +0.5%) and Darwin (+2.5%, revised from +5.1%). This was partially offset by falls in Melbourne (-0.2%, revised from -0.4%), Canberra (-1.2%, revised from -1.3%), Brisbane (-0.2%, revised from +0.1%) and Hobart (-1.0%, revised from -0.4%).

Final price indexes for the March quarter 2012 show no movement following a revision from a second preliminary estimated fall of 0.1%.

The movement through the year to the March quarter 2012 was revised from a fall of 3.5% to a fall of 3.4%.

In March the following second revisions were made: Perth (+0.9%, revised from +0.7%), Canberra (+0.7%, revised from +0.3%), Melbourne (-1.1%, revised from -1.3%), Adelaide (-0.9%, revised from -1.2%), Hobart (-2.9%, revised from -2.0%).