Capital cities 2008 – how did they perform? (zz)

It is not all good news but then again not all bad news either. During 2008 most mainland capital city markets recorded a softening in median dwelling values.

However, there were some winners – Darwin and Perth bucked the trend, according to RP Data’s latest research.

RP Data research analyst Cameron Kusher says the result was clearly a demonstration of the weakness in the more expensive markets during the year.

Across the country dwelling values fell by 2.6 per cent, with Perth being the most affected falling 8.8 per cent. Sydney and Brisbane followed with 2.9 per cent and 2.8 per cent, respectively.

However, says Kusher, these results have to be put into perspective as “the value of the share market fell by over 40 per cent across 2008”.

Houses

House values fell by 2.9 per cent. Darwin and Adelaide were the only capitals to record positive capital growth.

Kusher says that 12 months ago they were the two cheapest mainland capital city markets. “Interestingly, Darwin is now more expensive than both Brisbane and Melbourne.”

Brisbane (-3.0 per cent), Sydney (-3.6 per cent) and Perth (-8.3 per cent) all recorded falls in excess of the national levels.

	Sydney	Melbourne	Brisbane	Adelaide	Perth	Darwin	Canberra	National
Dec 07	577,935	453,281	458,701	404,770	513,769	419,663	492,295	493,098
Dec 08	556,877	448,189	445,106	411,694	471,343	468,520	483,861	478,821

Units

Units performed a little better with median values softening by 1.8 per cent. The most affordable cities Darwin and Adelaide again recorded the greatest growth.

	Sydney	Melbourne	Brisbane	Adelaide	Perth	Darwin	Canberra	National
Dec 07	422,983	358,329	333,129	312,740	470,437	296,285	362,112	389,260
Dec 08	418,246	352,592	326,048	335,265	418,435	319,523	363,152	382,320

Dwellings

	Sydney	Melbourne	Brisbane	Adelaide	Perth	Darwin	Canberra	National
Dec 07	519,353	426,996	433,113	383,249	504,492	379,889	459,941	463,257
Dec 08	504,466	421,725	420,845	393,821	460,016	420,487	453,862	451,088