Australian home prices fall for seventh month, looming rate hike adds to pain

Australian home prices fell for a seventh consecutive month in October, with a sharper decline than any in the past four decades, according to property data firm Cotality. The downturn was attributed to the heightened risk of another rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia, which is expected to raise interest rates a fifth time on November 3 to 4.85%, an 18-year-high.

Capital-city home values were falling at their fastest in 40 years, with prices down 8.1% in just seven months. Mid-sized capitals led the declines, with Brisbane home values falling 2.0% and Perth down 1.7%, unwinding some of the gains racked up over the past five years. Despite the buyer's market, property sales have slumped, falling 23% from a year earlier and standing 18% below the five-year average.

Brief written by urgent.news from Straits Times Business's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.