Despite the market softening, three capital cities have seen market increasing during the October to December quarter of 2018

Prices declined 2.3 per cent for houses and 2.4 per cent for other dwellings across Australia, the Real Estate Institute of Australia Real Estate Market Facts report for the December quarter 2018 indicated.

The national median declined to $733,438 for the quarter, which was due to falls experienced in most capital cities, but three bucked the downward trend: prices were up in Adelaide and in Hobart, while in Perth they remained stable.

Other dwellings also saw the weighted average median price decline to $570,905 for the quarter, due to price declines in all capital cities except for Adelaide and Perth..

Adelaide is offering Investors the most affordable property, which had the lowest median house price for the quarter at $475,000 and Darwin, which had the lowest median other dwelling price at $350,000.

In Victoria, prices have declined in Melbourne, however the regional areas of Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo are still recording strong price growth.”

Rents

The quarterly rental market saw increases in the median rent for three-bedroom houses for all capital cities, with the exception of Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart where they held steady.

The median rent for two-bedroom other dwellings increased in Canberra and Hobart, remained steady in Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth and decreased in Sydney, Melbourne and Darwin. Hobart had the largest increase, while Sydney had the largest decrease. The weighted average vacancy rate for the eight capital cities remained steady at 2.6 per cent during the December quarter, a decrease of 0.1 percentage points for the year. The markets of all capital cities except Darwin have vacancy rates at or below the 3.0 per cent benchmark, indicating a strong demand for rental accommodation.

Darwin had the highest vacancy rate of 8.2 per cent which is 1.9 percentage points higher than the same time as last year, an indication of low demand.