BRISBANE is now country’s best performing capital city, topping property value growth in the December quarter, but most capital city homeowners are now a whole lot wealthier, new figures show.
The latest CoreLogic RP Data Hedonic Home Value Index out this morning saw Brisbane rise 1.3 per cent at a time when Sydney was the country’s weakest performer going backwards -2.3 per cent.
But most owners would be feeling a lot wealthier thanks to property, with 2015 seeing a 7.8 per cent capital gain across combined capitals, and a rise of 22.5 per cent in the past five years.
CoreLogic RP Data head of research Tim Lawless said 2015 saw the country’s lowest rate of combined capital city capital gain since 2012, but most were a lot wealthier than when they started the year.
Sydney holds the highest median dwelling price of the Australian capitals at $800,000. Picture: John AppleyardSydney homeowners saw about $82,000 added to their wealth over 2015, Melbourne about $60,400, Brisbane owners were around $18,560 better off and Canberra approximately $21,900.
The five year figures showed Sydney dwelling values have risen 42.1 per cent or about $227,580 in the period, followed by Melbourne at 20.7 per cent ($101,650) with Brisbane the third best performing capital city (up 6.3 per cent).
The December quarter results saw Sydney’s fall work as a drag on capital city dwelling values which fell 1.4 per cent, with the combined capitals median dwelling price sitting at $595,000.
Sydney still holds the highest capital city median dwelling price at $800,000, followed by Melbourne $610,000, Canberra $585,000, Darwin $520,000, and Perth $510,000.
Brisbane was among the three most affordable median dwelling prices of the capitals at $475,000, with Adelaide on $420,000 and Hobart at $350,000.
For investors, units in Brisbane provided the best quarterly rental yields in the country at 5.3 per cent, with the best house yields coming out of Hobart at 5.4 per cent.
After a stellar year, Melbourne saw its final 2015 quarter pull the lowest gross yields of all capitals at 3 per cent for houses and 4 per cent for units.
Mr Lawless said cities like Melbourne and Brisbane which had seen a surge in new apartment supply were seeing a substantial differences between increases in value of units versus houses, with Melbourne unit values up 6.9 per cent over 2015 versus 11.7 per cent for houses.
Brisbane apartment values rose 1.8 per cent while houses were up 4.3 per cent over the calendar year.
“Sydney, where the apartment market is more mature and new supply has been more geographically diverse, has shown hardly any difference in capital gains, with house values up 11.5 per cent compared with an 11.3 per cent rise in unit values.”
