Australia’s housing rebound has continued with the CoreLogic national home value index up by 0.9% over the first month of the year.

This combined result now takes the annual growth rate to 4.1%, which is the fastest pace of growth for a 12-month period since December 2017.

Housing values rose in January across every capital city with Melbourne leading the way with growth of 1.2% for the month just ahead of Sydney, which recorded average dwelling growth of 1.1%. Hobart with 0.9% growth for January was next best. Four of Australia’s eight capital cities are already showing home values at new record highs, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Canberra.

Angus Raine, Executive Chairman, Raine & Horne, said, “Our economy has rebounded with interest rates remaining at an all-time low once again today. Steady monetary policy, along with the lifting of the Royal Commission cloud is supporting real estate price growth in many capital cities. The banks are now making the lending process easier and overall confidence has improved across the mining and manufacturing sectors.”

In Perth, stronger mining sector results has helped deliver positive news to homeowners. Housing values in the Western Australian capital are slowly emerging once again, as dwelling values edged 0.1% higher over the month, the CoreLogic research demonstrated. Moreover, Perth dwelling values posted their first rise over a rolling quarter (+0.4%) since a brief period of growth in May 2018.

Meanwhile, Perth investors have enjoyed good news too. A report from the Real Estate Institute of WA showed the median house rent in Perth jumped by $10 a week to $370, while the median unit rent rose by $5 per week to $330 compared to the last quarter. REIWA Deputy President Lisa Joyce said, “If the vacancy rate continues to decline, we can expect rents to gradually increase throughout the year.”

Regional markets across Australia also enjoyed growth in the first month of January. According to CoreLogic Head of Research Tim Lawless, this demonstrates a broader recovery trend which initially began in Sydney and Melbourne midway through 2019, and gradually spread to other areas of the country. Across the regional markets, CoreLogic reports regional Tasmania recorded the most robust conditions with 1.3% growth over the month, followed by regional Western Australia (+0.9%) and regional Victoria and regional Queensland with 0.8% increases.