MARCH KEY FIGURES

	Dec Qtr 11 to Mar Qtr 12	Mar Qtr 11 to Mar Qtr 12
Established house prices	% change	% change
Weighted average of eight capital cities	-1.1	-4.5
Sydney	-1.8	-4.6
Melbourne	-2.2	-6.6
Brisbane	0.4	-3.7
Adelaide	-0.9	-3.8
Perth	1.1	-1.7
Hobart	-2.7	-6.7
Darwin	4.4	3.5
Canberra	1.2	-0.5

Established house prices, Weighted average of eight capital cities - Quarterly % change

Established house prices, Quarterly % change - March quarter 2012

MARCH KEY POINTS


ESTABLISHED HOUSE PRICES

Quarterly Changes

• Preliminary estimates show the price index for established houses for the weighted average of the eight capital cities fell 1.1% in the March quarter 2012.
• The capital city indexes fell in Melbourne (-2.2%), Sydney (-1.8%), Adelaide (-0.9%) and Hobart (-2.7%) and rose in Perth (+1.1%), Brisbane (+0.4%), Canberra (+1.2%) and Darwin (+4.4%).

Annual Changes (March Quarter 2011 to March Quarter 2012)

• Preliminary estimates show that the price index for established houses for the weighted average of the eight capital cities fell 4.5% in the year to the March quarter 2012.
• Annually, house prices fell in Hobart (-6.7%), Melbourne (-6.6%), Sydney (-4.6%), Adelaide (-3.8%), Brisbane (-3.7%), Perth (-1.7%), and Canberra (-0.5%) and rose in Darwin (+3.5%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
June 2012	1 August 2012
September 2012	6 November 2012
December 2012	5 February 2013
March 2013	7 May 2013

CHANGES IN THE NEXT ISSUE

The established house price index currently covers detached houses in the eight capital cities. Since 2010, work has been underway to develop a price index for other dwellings in the capital cities. The June quarter 2012 issue of this publication will include a feature article which provides some information about the development of this new experimental price index. A data cube will be provided with a time series of the other dwellings price index and a total measure of detached houses and other dwellings: the All dwellings price index.


REVISIONS

Estimates for the two most recent quarters of the HPI series are preliminary and subject to revision (see paragraphs 15 to 19 of the Explanatory Notes).

The series for the median price of established house transfers (unstratified) and the number of established house transfers (published in Tables 7 and 8 respectively) are also subject to revision as the ABS receives more data from the Valuers-General. This quarter, the completion of a review of ABS processes has led to a change in the practice of revising Tables 7 and 8. In the past, these tables were revised as necessary throughout the whole time series. From the March quarter 2012 onwards (with the exception of revisions for Canberra), the usual practice will be to update only the most recent eight quarters of published figures. For the March quarter 2012, however, the review has also led to revisions to Canberra beyond the most recent eight quarters.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070 or Mark Dubner on Sydney (02) 9268 4448.