House price index in Australia dropped by 3 percent quarter-on-quarter in the three months to March of 2019, worse than market expectations of a 2.5 percent fall and following a 2.4 percent decrease in the previous quarter. It was the biggest decline on record, as prices of properties fell in all capital cities: Sydney (-3.9 percent), Melbourne (-3.8 percent), Brisbane (-1.5 percent), Darwin (-1.8 percent), Perth (-1.1 percent), Canberra (-0.9 percent), Hobart (-0.4 percent), and Adelaide (-0.2 percent). Through the year to March, home prices prices slumped 7.4 percent, after falling 5.1 percent in the prior quarter. "These results are in line with soft housing market indicators, with sales transactions and auction clearance rates lower than one year ago, and days on market trending higher," said ABS Chief Economist, Bruce Hockman. Housing Index in Australia averaged 1.43 percent from 2002 until 2019, reaching an all time high of 6.10 percent in the second quarter of 2002 and a record low of -3 percent in the first quarter of 2019.
Housing Index in Australia is expected to be -1.80 percent by the end of this quarter, according to Trading Economics global macro models and analysts expectations. Looking forward, we estimate Housing Index in Australia to stand at 1.00 in 12 months time. In the long-term, the Australia House Price Index QoQ is projected to trend around 2.10 percent in 2020, according to our econometric models.