ABS Reports Strong Growth In Housing Values Over September Quarter

The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports on housing prices quarterly using a stratified median methodology. This method is different to CoreLogic’s hedonic regression series; in simple terms, the stratification methodology measures price changes across a number of ‘strata’ or sub-regions before aggregating the data back to the capital city level. Generally the ABS and CoreLogic measures show very similar trends over time, however, the CoreLogic series is more timely (one day in arrears), higher frequency (monthly rather than quarterly) and provided across small regions as well as quartile and decile based valuation cohorts.

Overall, the ABS reported a 2.4% rise in residential property prices across the combined capital cities over the September quarter. In comparison, the CoreLogic index for the September quarter reported a 2.2% lift in capital city housing values over the same period of time. Across each of the state capitals, the ABS has reported a slightly stronger result on price growth relative to the CoreLogic index, while quarterly results for Darwin and Canberra were higher on the CoreLogic method. 

The broad trends from the ABS mirror those already reported by CoreLogic more than two months ago. Sydney and Melbourne are leading the recovery trend with housing values up 3.6% over the quarter, with a softer growth trend across most of the smaller capitals while Adelaide, Perth and Darwin values drifted lower.

Melbourne 

Housing values were 3.6% higher over the September quarter, according to the ABS, compared with a reported 3.4% rise based on the CoreLogic home value index results for the same quarter. The ABS shows very little difference in the performance of houses compared with units, with the quarterly results up 3.7% and 3.6% respectively. The two months following September have seen Melbourne’s rebound remaining strong. Based on CoreLogic’s monthly series, Melbourne dwelling values were up a further 4.5% over the two months ending November. 

Source :CoreLogic