Bring on the new year, 2023 we thank you.

Hi everyone, I’m Jason Mudford from OBrien Corporate with the first edition of the property news for 2024.

Welcome to the new year and another year of commentary on the property market.

The RBA's rate hike in November last year has pushed Melbourne's home prices lower for the second consecutive month with a fall of 0.3% as recorded by CoreLogic's December Home Value Index (HVI) released on New Years Day.

The effects of 5 interest rate rises over the course 2023 plus the eight increases in 2022 have culminated to dampen Melbourne's property market, with buyers now able to borrow approximately 60% of what they could in January 2022.

Melbourne Metro prices on average across both houses and units recorded a modest increase in the median with a $26,392 increase or 3.5%. 2023 fared much better than 2022 when it fell by 8.1%, however 2021 was a great year with a 15.1% rise. Comparing the Melbourne Metro results to the stock market, it shows similar returns over the last 3 years. As reported by ABC News, the ASX 200 had grown 7.8% in 2023 and similarly fell by 7.2% in 2022 whilst also surging in 2021 like property by 13.6%.

What’s interesting to note, Melbourne has been the worst performing Capital City in Australia since March 2020, which is reasonable to expect when considering the effects of Covid 19 on Victoria was the most profound. From a Regional Victoria perspective there was negative growth over the course of the 2023 year with a fall in prices by 1.6% or just over a $9,000 reduction in the average median price for combined dwellings.

National home prices, which combine all home price movements of all states and territories recorded a increase of 8.1% for 2023 whereas in 2022 it recorded only a 4.5% fall whereas in 2021 it recorded a bumper result with 24.5% surge. In terms of the top three performing capital cities in 2023, Perth recorded the top result with a 15.2% increase followed by Brisbane with 13.2% and Sydney with a 11.1% rise which now takes Sydney’s median price for a house to $1,400,000 as opposed to $948,041 for a house in Melbourne.

What all this information this tells me at the end of the day is that Melbourne is the best value market to be buying and investing in within Australia. The upside over the course of the next 3 years must be better than any other state or territory when you look at the suppression Melbourne has had in home prices over the last 4 years compared to other states and territories.

Remember the information provided is of a general nature, you should always seek independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice in relation to your unique circumstances.

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