Residential property prices have continued to fall across Australia with a 2.4 per cent decline in the December quarter 2018, according to the recent figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

This contributed to the 5.1 per cent fall for the whole of 2018, which was faster than the 4.6 per cent fall during the Global Financial Crisis in the early 2009. 

“Australia’s two largest cities continue to lead the fall in property prices. These falls follow a period of solid growth, where prices in Sydney rose 68 per cent and Melbourne rose 54 per cent, over the five years to December quarter 2017,” Chief Economist for the ABS, Bruce Hockman said. 

Sydney property prices fell by 3.7 per cent in the December quarter 2018 and 7.8 per cent for the whole of 2018. 

Melbourne property prices fell by 2.4 per cent in the December quarter 2018 and 6.4 per cent for the whole of 2018. 

In addition, Brisbane experienced a 1.1 per cent drop in the December quarter 2018, Darwin 0.6 per cent and Canberra 0.2 per cent. 

"While property prices are falling in most capital cities, a tightening in credit supply and reduced demand from investors and owner occupiers have had a more pronounced effect on the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne,” Mr Hockman said. 

At the end of the December quarter 2018, the total value of Australia’s 10.3 million residential dwellings fell $133 billion to $6.7 trillion. 

The mean price of dwellings across Australia is now at $651,100.