Australia CoreLogic: Housing Prices Up +1.5% M/M on Melbourne

--Sydney Prices Slow; Overall Housing Market Slows

     SYDNEY (MNI) - From CoreLogic Hedonic home value index for July published

Tuesday:

                   July % change m/m  July % change q/q  July % change y/y

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Combined Capitals               +1.5               +2.2              +10.5

Sydney                          +1.4               +2.2              +12.4

Melbourne                       +3.1               +4.1              +15.9

Brisbane                        -0.6               -0.7               +2.2

Adelaide                        +1.1               +0.1               +2.1

Perth                           -1.3               -0.3               -2.1

Hobart                          +0.9               -1.4               +6.5

Darwin                          -1.2               -6.8               -2.1

Canberra                        +2.4               +4.9              +12.9

     FACTORS: Dwelling-price gains slowed in July with a rise in Melbourne

prices offset by slowing in Sydney price growth. 

     TAKEAWAY: The data show price growth rebounded in the three months to July

after a slowing in the three months to June. But conditions in the two hottest

markets of Sydney and Melbourne are diverging - with Sydney slowing to +2.2%

from +5.0% earlier this year while the slowing in Melbourne is less pronounced

at +4.1% from +5.5% earlier. Auction clearance rates - the rate at which

auctions are successful - were stronger in Melbourne at around the mid-70% range

while Sydney rates have been below 70% for seven of the past eight weeks.

Overall, the data shows slowing in housing-market conditions with the exception

of Melbourne - which remains relatively strong. 

     COMMENTS: CoreLogic's head of research Tim Lawless said a culmination of

several factors working together was causing the housing market to lose steam.

He expects the pace of capital gains to continue to ease through 2017 -

particularly in Sydney and, to a lesser degree, in Melbourne where value growth

has been most extreme over the past five years.

--MNI Sydney Bureau; tel: +61 2-9716-5467; email: sophia.rodrigues@marketnews.com

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