'Frothy' Sydney continues to lead home price gains
The official index shows that Sydney home prices are growing more than twice as fast as any other city.
The Bureau of Statistics quarterly home price index lags well behind RP Data's private reading which comes out monthly.
However, it confirms that the Sydney market is now pretty much the sole driver of Australia's home price boom.
While the weighted average of capital city prices rose 1.5 per cent over the September quarter and 9.1 per cent over the past year, Sydney prices rose 2.7 per cent and 14.6 per cent respectively.
The next largest price rise was in Melbourne, where values rose 1 per cent over the past quarter and 6.9 per cent over the past year.
Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart had similar moderate price rises, while Canberra and Darwin had weaker rises over the quarter and the year.
Perth was the only city to see residential property prices fall in the quarter, albeit by just 0.1 per cent, while prices were up around 3.7 per cent since the same time a year ago.
Sydney prices still 'frothy'
JP Morgan economist Tom Kennedy described Sydney's strong annual growth as still "frothy", however he said national average price growth has decelerated since the June quarter.
"While dwelling price growth in Sydney certainly helped to buoy the headline release, gains were recorded across most of Australia's major property markets, with prices in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart all climbing 1 per cent quarter-on-quarter," he wrote in a note on the data.
"The exception was in Perth where prices slipped 0.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter, an outcome consistent with the idea labour demand and migration flows have slowed in recent quarters following the peak in mining-related investment."
The Bureau of Statistics estimated that there are just over 9.4 million dwellings in Australia, with a total value of nearly $5.3 trillion.
The average price of a home in one of Australia's eight capitals is estimated at $563,100.
In order to cut costs, from the March quarter onwards the ABS home price index will come out even later than it does currently, with the figures released almost three months after the relevant period finishes.
