CANBERRA: House values surged another 1.4 per cent across Australia in March, pushing annual price growth to 19 per cent in Sydney and 16 per cent in Melbourne, new data shows. Property data group CoreLogic says house values in Sydney are now growing at their fastest yearly rate since November 2002, while growth across all capital cities is at a seven-year high (12.9 per cent).
The figures released on Monday revealing continued runaway growth come as regulators, fearful of risky lending and an overheating of the housing market, slam the brakes on some types of home loans. Hobart and Darwin had the biggest monthly jumps at 3.1 per cent, pushing the Tasmanian capital into double-digit annual growth at 10.2 per cent. Darwin properties have fallen 4.4 per cent however, off the back of poor economic conditions and migration trends, CoreLogic said.
Canberra also tipped into double-digit annual growth last month, at 12.8 per cent. The banking regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, wrote to all banks on Friday saying it expected them to tighten lending practices on interest-only and investor loans. The move was to ensure banks recognised the “heightened risk in the lending environment, and that their lending standards and practices appropriately respond to these conditions,” APRA chairman Wayne Byres said.
