National prices keep rising according to two sets of data

ABC NEWS (Australia)

It's a tough time for many people at the moment with higher interest rates and cost of living pressures squeezing household budgets. But despite that the latest data shows house prices are still rising bouncing back from what looked like the start of a downturn late last year.

Transcript

00:00 On a hot day, this family's coming to inspect what some real estate agents might call a

00:07 renovator's delight.

00:09 It needs work, as you'd expect. We knew that coming in. For us, we need to be able to live

00:16 in a place as we fix it up with the two little kids.

00:20 But agent Luke Seko is confident the corner house in Australia's second biggest market

00:25 will be hot property when it goes under the hammer.

00:27 With the talk of rates coming off or dropping, we're finding that there's more buyers out

00:31 there and the market's picking up.

00:33 Figures from CoreLogic show prices rose nationally by 0.6% in February and nearly 9% over the

00:39 year. Perth led the monthly gains, followed by Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, the regions

00:44 Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin, while Hobart went backwards. Rents also had the strongest

00:49 monthly rise since March last year, up 0.9%.

00:54 The results are surprising to some due to the current state of the economy, with rising

00:58 unemployment, higher interest rates and cost of living pressures squeezing household budgets.

01:03 It looks like the housing market has actually avoided a cyclical downswing. That's where

01:08 it looked like the market was going at the end of last year.

01:11 Economists say prospective buyers are optimistic about the potential for an interest rate cut

01:15 later this year. And house prices are holding up because not enough properties are up for

01:20 sale.

01:21 Some predictions are that house prices might continue to rise this year. Does that factor

01:26 into any decision making?

01:28 Yeah, you always worry about the ladder being pulled up and never being able to get on.

01:33 A hope shared by many reaching for the Australian dream.

01:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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