SEPTEMBER QTR KEY FIGURES
 | Jun Qtr 04 to Sep Qtr 04 | Sep Qtr 2003 to Sep Qtr 2004 |
| Established house prices | % change | % change |
|
| Weighted average of eight capital cities | -0.7 | 8.2 |
| Sydney | -2.0 | 5.4 |
| Melbourne | -1.6 | 1.9 |
| Brisbane | -0.2 | 20.5 |
| Adelaide | 1.3 | 13.8 |
| Perth | 3.0 | 11.8 |
| Hobart | -2.2 | 9.6 |
| Darwin | 3.8 | 19.8 |
| Canberra | 0.6 | 8.0 |
|
Established house prices, Quarterly % change
| Established house prices, Quarterly % change - September quarter 2004
|
SEPTEMBER QTR KEY POINTS
ESTABLISHED HOUSE PRICES
QUARTERLY CHANGES
- The price index for established houses in Australia fell 0.7% in the September quarter 2004, compared with a revised increase of 0.3% in June quarter 2004.
- House prices fell in Hobart (-2.2%), Sydney (-2.0%), Melbourne (-1.6%) and Brisbane (-0.2%), but rose in each of the other capital cities: Darwin (+3.8%), Perth (+3.0%), Adelaide (+1.3%) and Canberra (+0.6%).
ANNUAL CHANGES
- Over the twelve months to September quarter 2004, established house prices rose 8.2%. It was the lowest annual increase since June quarter 2001.
- Annual increases in the capital cities were: Brisbane (+20.5%), Darwin (+19.8%), Adelaide (+13.8%), Perth (+11.8%), Hobart (+9.6%), Canberra (+8.0%), Sydney (+5.4%) and Melbourne (+1.8%).
NOTES
REVISIONS IN THIS ISSUE
An error was detected for the June quarter 2004 price index for Established Houses for Sydney. This number has been revised from 260.3 to 271.5 in table 1 of this issue. This revision also impacts on the June quarter 2004 price index for Established Houses for the Weighted average of eight capital cities, which has been revised from 248.2 to 252.1. The tables affected by the revisions are tables 1, 2, 5 and 6.
The revision was due to the presence in the June quarter data set for Sydney of some transactions that had been settled in 2001, which were not initially detected by the ABS.
Note, these revisions have no impact on the Consumer Price Index which only contains price information on new homes (i.e. project houses) not established houses.
CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE
The index series for Construction Industry Total Hourly Rates of Pay shown in table 5 of this publication has been released on a new reference base of 2003-04; i.e. the numbers have been reset to equal 100.0 for the financial year 2003-04. Details about the re-referencing process and how to convert the rebased quarterly series of index numbers back to the previous reference base of September quarter 1997 = 100.0 are provided in Appendix 2 in the September quarter 2004 issue of Labour Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6345.0). As a result of the re-referencing, there have been some minor revisions, due to rounding, to the calculated percentage changes for the Construction Industry Total Hourly Rates of Pay shown in table 6.
CONSIDERATIONS WHEN INTERPRETING THE ESTABLISHED HOUSE PRICE INDEX
As noted in paragraph 9 of the Explanatory Notes of this publication, in order to minimise the effects of compositional change on the measures of price change, the ABS stratifies the sales of established houses by geographic area. Compared with an approach which does not stratify by area, the difference in the measure of aggregate price change for a capital city will be most evident during periods when different geographical areas within a city experience different rates of price change. In the September quarter 2004, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne have been the cities most affected by significantly different price changes in the various regions within the city.
INQUIRIES
For further information about these and related statistics, contact Steve Whennan on Canberra (02) 6252 6251 or the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
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