MEDIA RELEASE
20 June 2017	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	65/2017

Residential property prices rose 2.2 per cent in the March quarter 2017, the fourth consecutive quarter of growth, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Program Manager for Prices Branch, Marcel van Kints, said; "While residential property prices rose in most capital cities this quarter, Sydney and Melbourne continue to drive the national result."

The price rises in Sydney (3.0 per cent) and Melbourne (3.1 per cent) were partially offset by falls in Perth (1.0 per cent) and Darwin (0.9 per cent).

Through the year growth in residential property prices reached 10.2 per cent in the March quarter 2017. Sydney recorded the largest through the year growth of all capital cities at 14.4 per cent, followed closely by Melbourne at 13.4 per cent.

The total value of Australia's 9.9 million residential dwellings increased $163.1 billion to $6.6 trillion. The mean price of dwellings in Australia is now $669,700.

Further details can be found in Residential Property Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities (cat. no. 6416.0), available for free download from the ABS website: https://www.abs.gov.au.

Media notes:

• Established houses are detached residential dwellings on their own block of land, regardless of age.
• The term 'attached dwellings' includes flats, units and apartments plus semi-detached, row and terrace houses.
• The value and mean price of residential dwellings includes any land.
• When reporting ABS data, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or ABS) must be attributed as the source.
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