Melbourne property prices hit post-Covid high

New figures reveal the city’s house values have regained all their losses to surge past their April 2020 peak.

Last week saw 1,322 homes taken to auction across Melbourne. Picture: David Crosling

Melbourne residential propery prices have regained all their losses through last year’s COVID lockdowns, with the market hitting record levels to be up nearly 14 per over two years.

New CoreLogic data reveals Melbourne dwelling values have past their April, 2020 peak by 0.2 per cent and were now showing strong price surges experienced in Sydney earlier this month.

A combination of increased consumer confidence as Victoria emerges from last year’s extended COVID hit and ultra-low interest rates were driving the price increases.

“Melbourne dwelling values have now surpassed their previous peak to notch up a new record high,” said CoreLogic research director, Tim Lawless.

“Following a decline of 6.1 per cent through COVID-19, values have since grown by 6.7 per cent, and are now sitting 0.2 per cent above their recent high recorded by CoreLogic’s hedonic daily home value index on 6 April 2020,” Mr Lawless said.

Melbourne’s dwelling values are now 13.8 per cent above their recent low of mid-2019, with the median value now sitting at $736,478.

Among Melbourne’s top end suburbs, Toorak has lead the recovery while the coastal hideway of the Mornington Peninsula has also performed extremely well. Brighton and Eltham have also performed strongly.

Kay & Burton chairman Gerald Delany said Melbourne’s residential housing market is as strong as it was since the peaks of the 1980s.

“It is no doubt totally driven by interest rates, and I don’t see any change in this market for the balance of the calendar year,” he said.

Mr Delany said all quality suburbs, such as Hawthorn, Kew, Malvern, South Yarra and Toorak were experiencing “insatiable demand.”

The figures come after auction clearance rates held strong over the weekend despite the largest number of homes on offer in nearly three years.

Meanwhile, Sydney reported the strongest preliminary rate of 89.1 per cent from 1392 auctions. Almost half of all auctions last week were held in Melbourne (1899 properties), with 83.8 per cent selling.

Last week saw 1,322 homes taken to auction across Melbourne, returning a final clearance rate of 78.8 per cent. This time last year, 1,565 auctions were held across the city.

At the end of February Canberra had some of the strongest annualised property price changes, up 9.7 per cent on the year. Hobart prices were up 8.7 per cent and Adelaide was up 7.3 per cent. Brisbane values were up 5 per cent, Perth had gains of 4.6 per cent and Sydney was up 2.8 per cent.

Originally published as Melbourne property prices hit post-Covid high