Whilst home values continue to increase, the pace of growth loses its steam in April.

According to CoreLogic's national home value index, Australian housing values lifted by 1.8% in April with the monthly pace of capital gains easing from a 32 year high in March (2.8%). Although it may seem as if growth conditions have halted, housing values are overall still increasing at an expeditious rate. This is evident with housing values rising by 6.8% over the past three months, being 10.2% higher than the COVID low in September 2020. 

CoreLogic's research director, Tim Lawless, says the pace of capital gains could slow further over the coming months as inventory levels rise and affordability constraints dampen housing demand. 

"The slowdown in housing value appreciation is unsurprising due to the rapid rate of growth seen over the past six months, especially in the context of subdued wages growth. As housing prices are rising faster than incomes, it can be assumed that price sensitive sectors of the market, such as first home buyers and lower income households, are finding it harder to save for a deposit and transactional costs". 

However, despite the downtrend in housing value, there is a positive geographically wide spread housing market, with every capital city and rest of state region continuing to record a lift in dwelling values over the month.