Australia’s house prices fall by $36billion in the first annual decrease in six years

House prices across the country have plummeted by a combined total of $36 billion in the first annual decrease in six years.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the residential property price index across the eight capital cities has fallen by 0.6 per cent over the last 12 months.

The first annual decrease since the June quarter in 2012 brings the total value of Australia’s housing market to $6.9 trillion.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the residential property price index across the eight capital cities has fallen by 0.6 per cent over the last 12 months 

‘The initial slowdown in these markets was spurred by regulatory changes and a tightening in the supply of credit to investors,’ ABS chief economist Bruce Hockman told the ABC.

‘The effect of this is more pronounced in the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne,’ he said.

During the last quarter, Sydney property prices fell by 1.2 per cent and Melbourne fell by 0.8 per cent.

Over the same period, Perth prices rose by 0.2 per cent, Brisbane prices increased by 0.9 per cent, and Hobart’s prices skyrocketed by 15.5 per cent.

A tightening of lending practices following the banking royal commission, along with regulatory pressures and investor caution, has been blamed for the downturn.

Experts are predicting that if the current conditions prevail residential prices could fall by around 5 per cent over the year, with apartments affected more than detached dwellings.

‘Apartment prices remain on a slightly weaker footing compared to detached dwellings, as they have done for some time, owing to widespread issues of oversupply in the major eastern capital cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane,’ JP Morgan’s Henry St John said.

A tightening of lending practices following the banking royal commission along with regulatory pressures and investor caution has been blamed for the downturn