Australia’s housing market is now valued at $6.9 trillion, according to data released by the ABS today, increasing by 1% in the 2017 December quarter.

From a year earlier, prices nationwide grew by a combined 5%, less than half the pace seen just six months earlier.

On the surface, it suggests Australia’s housing market is slowing down.

However, as these charts help to reinforce, there’s actually no one “Australian” housing market but many.

From the National Australia Bank (NAB), the first shows the annual change in Australian house prices by capital city.

And this next one, also from the NAB, shows the change in medium and high density prices by individual capital over the year.

Clearly, some markets are seeing prices accelerate while others are slowing.

And, in some cases, price are actually falling, underlining that there’s actually multiple markets found within the broader Australian housing market.

Given recent divergences between the capital cities, it underlines the challenge when setting housing and monetary policy for the entire Australian market.

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