MEDIA RELEASE
13 December 2016	Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)	136/2016

Residential property prices rose 3.5 per cent through the year, the weakest growth since March quarter 2013 and a decline from the peak of 10.7 per cent a year ago, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

In the September quarter, residential property prices continued to fall in Perth and Darwin, while prices rose in all other capital cities.

Sydney recorded the largest quarterly residential property price growth of all capital cities, with house prices rising 2.9 per cent and attached dwellings 2.1 per cent.

Melbourne recorded the strongest through the year growth of 6.9 per cent, followed by Hobart at 6.8 per cent.

The total value of Australia's 9.8 million residential dwellings increased $112.1 billion to $6.2 trillion. The mean price of dwellings in Australia is now $631,000.

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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