Houses continue to trend up

Houses continue to trend upThe latest statistics on house prices and building approvals, particularly in Sydney and Melbourne, show a continuing trend – and the only way seems to be up.According to the CoreLogic RP Data Home Value Index housing values rebounded higher in June, taking dwelling values across the combined capital cities almost 10 per cent higher for the FY2014/15.Capital city dwelling values finished the financial year on a strong footing, with dwelling values rising 2.0 per cent over the June quarter and 9.8 per cent higher over the year. The rate of capital gain was slightly higher over the second half of the year (5.1 per cent) compared with the first half (4.5 per cent) highlighting that the housing market has gathered some momentum during 2015. The 2013/14 financial year recorded a slightly higher rate of growth at 10.1 per cent.However, the strength in the housing market has not been reflected in all cities. While values in Sydney and Melbourne have increased by 16.2 per cent and 10.2 per cent over the financial year respectively, every other capital city has seen growth of less than 5 per cent and dwelling values are down over the year in Darwin (-2.9 per cent) and Perth (-0.9 per cent).To download the index click here.Meanwhile, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reports that residential building approvals have continued their unbroken upward trajectory, hitting new records over the past 12 months.Despite a small drop in approvals in May in trend terms, year-to-date seasonally adjusted data sets a new high water mark for dwelling approvals.Nationally, the latest ABS Building Approvals data shows continued growth, with 218,442 new dwellings approved in seasonally adjusted terms for the 12 months to May 2015, up from 192,561 approvals for the 12-month period to May 2014.Building approvals increased 2 per cent on the April 2015 figure and rose 13 per cent year-on-year.”This result is the best possible news for combating the challenge of housing affordability,” said Nick Proud, Executive Director Residential for the Property Council of Australia.”The only meaningful way to take the pressure off prices is to increase new housing supply and this data shows Australia is continuing a significant run of residential approvals.”For more comment on the ABS data click here.