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Melbourne’s median house price is now 6.5 per cent below the peak it reached in December 2021, but is still 16.1 per cent higher than before the pandemic-induced property boom. “We normally see the more expensive areas lead the price falls and then the recovery,” Powell said. “This could very well be the bottom of the market, but we need another couple of quarters of sideways movement of prices, or slight improvements, before that is confirmed.”
While house prices were down slightly, unit prices took a harder hit over the three months to March, down 4.8 per cent to a $527,828 median.Credit:Unit prices fell hardest in the Mornington Peninsula – down 11.9 per cent over the quarter – bucking the upwards trend of house prices there.“The market is very thin at the moment,” Hassan said. “There is maybe more urgency in getting sales out the door for some of these units.
“We don’t expect the cash rate to start falling until late 2024, which means the impacts to borrowing capacity so far from [higher] interest rates are likely to remain in place,” Timbrell said. The Lui family has been looking for a home in the eastern suburbs to be closer to school for their children.“We’re finding it hard in the pockets we’re looking at because it’s quite slow in terms of new housing stock,” Damien Lui said. “When we were selling there was not that much stock being released, so that helped us in getting the price we wanted as well.”