Sydney’s housing market is beginning to stabilise after a record run of price falls.
The median price of homes across the city stayed close to unchanged this month, dropping just 0.1 per cent, preliminary CoreLogic figures from the first 26 days of June revealed.
It was the smallest monthly drop in values since prices began falling in September 2017 and considerably smaller than the 1.3 per cent drop in values recorded earlier this year in January.
The June decrease was also much smaller than the 1.8 per cent median price fall reported in December last year.
MORE: Opportunity closing for bargain hunters
Mascot Towers disaster drives big property shift
CoreLogic head of research Tim Lawless said the Sydney figures followed a national trend.
There were now early signs that housing values were stabilising across the country’s largest cities, Mr Lawless said.
Melbourne prices — which have mirrored the performance of Sydney values to some degree over the past two years — inched up for the first time in nearly a year, with the median growing 0.1 per cent.
Mr Lawless said lower interest rates and improved confidence following the federal election outcome were the likely drivers of the strengthening market conditions.
CoreLogic will report its final index results for June at the start of July, but early indications were “looking more positive”, with an ongoing trend towards smaller value falls in the five biggest capitals, Mr Lawless said.
Projections from Moody’s Analytics released earlier this week suggested Sydney was on track to bottom out by the third of the quarter of this year, with prices returning to growth in 2020.
Detached house values were forecast to increase an average 3.1 per cent next year, while unit prices would grow 4 per cent, Moody’s said.
“The correction in Sydney is forecast to have largely passed by 2020, but home value growth will be far from the lofty gains of recent years,” Moody’s noted.
The market recovery would come off the back of the Reserve Bank’s decision to cut the cash rate to the lowest level since the 1960s, according to the financial group.
Real Estate Institute of NSW chief executive Tim McKibbin said home seekers should capitalise on improved buying conditions while they still could.
Analysis from the peak industry body revealed current conditions for buyers were the best in years, but may not last.
“The decline in property prices we have seen over the past year is likely plateauing,” Mr McKibbin said, adding that strengthening auction clearance rates were pointing to a coming recovery in values.