MILDURA was last month the only regional Victorian area to record an annual property value increase, according to analyst CoreLogic.
The median value of a home in Mildura is $398,109.
This was only 0.3 per cent higher than the figure in August last year, but was the only increase recorded in regional Victoria.
Glenelg-Southern Grampians recorded the second-best value performance over the past 12 months, a decline of 0.4 per cent.
This was followed by Wellington (-0.7 per cent), Latrobe – Gippsland (-1 per cent) and Warrnambool-South West (-3.4 per cent).
In Melbourne, only six areas – Manningham West, Whitehorse West, Monash, Whitehorse East, Manningham East and Port Phillip – recorded increases.
The highest Victorian increase was 4.3 per cent.
Mildura’s positive value was led by large increases in unit values, with the cost of a unit up 8.2 per cent compared to last August.
House values were down 0.9 per cent.
CoreLogic said its national home-value index had risen for the sixth consecutive time, up 0.8 per cent in August.
It said the recovery trend remained broad based, with every capital city except Hobart recording a rise in dwelling values over the month.
CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said regional areas were experiencing mixed results compared to capital cities.
“With internal migration trends normalising across regional Australia, and less demand-side pressures from net overseas migration than in capital cities, regional markets generally aren’t seeing the same level of recovery,” he said.
“Housing values across the combined regional areas of Australia are up 1.6 per cent since a trough in February, compared with a larger 6 per cent rise in values across the combined capitals.”
Regional home sales remain lower than last year, having declined 6.4 per cent by volume.
The number of regional buyers was also down 6.1 per cent on the previous five-year average.
CoreLogic said numbers were down as many buyers continued to face hurdles in access to the housing market, especially from a credit perspective.
“Lending to borrowers with small deposits or high debt levels relative to their income has become an increasingly smaller portion of home lending,” it said.
“Additionally, borrowers continue to be assessed to service a new loan three percentage points above the current mortgage rate.”
However, CoreLogic said inflation was falling faster than forecast, cost-of-living pressures were becoming less significant and the risk of higher interest rates had subsided, meaning more people could look to buy a home in spring.
According to Finder’s latest RBA cash rate survey, 66 per cent of surveyed experts believed interest rates had peaked, while almost all expected the cash rate to hold in September.
Finder head of consumer research Graham Cooke said homeowners would likely be let off the hook for a third consecutive month.
“The cost-of-living crisis has put an end to the post-COVID spending splurge, giving the experts reason to believe that the RBA will hold off on increasing the cash rate,” he said.
Mr Cooke warned, however, that homeowners still needed to remain “on guard” as conflict escalation in Ukraine, the continued economic slowdown in China or a change in inflation could convince the RBA to lift rates again in the coming months.
