Housing values fell 5.3% over 2022: CoreLogic

CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index fell 1.1 per cent in December 2022, which brought overall values 5.3 per cent lower over the 2022 calendar year.

According to the index, the worsening monthly rate of decline across Melbourne, which lifted 40 bps between November and December’s declines (0.8 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively), largely contributed to the re-acceleration in the downwards trend.

Declines also accelerated across Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin, and Canberra month-on-month. However, Brisbane and Hobart saw the pace of declines ease, while Perth saw value movements remain “slightly positive” for two consecutive months.

The 5.3 per cent decline in housing values marked the first time that national home values fell over the calendar year since 2018, while the 12 months to December also marked the largest calendar year decline since the global financial crisis in 2008 when values were down 6.4 per cent.

Sydney and Melbourne saw the largest annual fall at 12.1 per cent and 8.1 per cent. Hobart, the ACT, and Brisbane also recorded an annual drop in housing values, falling by 6.9 per cent, 3.3 per cent, and 1.1 per cent, respectively.

On the other hand, three capitals recorded values rise over 2022 with Adelaide at 10.1 per cent, Darwin at 4.3 per cent, and Perth at 3.6 per cent.

Tim Lawless, research director at CoreLogic, commented this has “been a year of contrasts”, with housing values mostly rising in the first four months of 2022, but falling sharply following the Reserve Bank’s fastest rate tightening cycle on record.

“Our daily index series saw national home values peak on May 7, shortly after the cash rate moved off emergency lows,” Mr Lawless said.

“Since then, CoreLogic’s national index has fallen -8.2 per cent, following a dramatic 28.9 per cent rise in values through the upswing.”

Housing values generally remain well above pre-COVID-19 levels, despite the downturn across various areas of the country. Dwelling values remained 11.7 per cent above where they were prior to the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020 across the combined capital cities and combined regional values are still up 32.2 per cent.

“Melbourne is the only capital city where the current downwards trend is getting close to wiping out the entirety of COVID gains, with dwelling values only 1.5 per cent above March 2020 levels,” Mr Lawless said.

Written by Adrian Suljanovic

Last Updated: 04 January 2023

Published: 05 January 2023