HOUSE PRICE INDEXES
The price index for established houses covers transactions in detached residential dwellings on their own block of land regardless of age (i.e. includes new houses sold as a house/land package as well as second-hand houses). Price changes therefore relate to changes in the total price of dwelling and land.
Project homes are dwellings available for construction on an existing block of land. Price changes relate only to the cost of constructing the dwelling (excluding land).
The September quarter 2005 saw the introduction of a new methodology for compiling the established house price index. A detailed discussion of the new methodology is provided in Information Paper: Renovating the Established House Price Index (cat. no. 6417.0), released on 30 November 2005. The new established house price index commenced from March quarter 2002 and has a reference base of 2003-04 = 100.0. A new weighting pattern for the project home price index was introduced in September quarter 2005 (see Explanatory Notes 22-23 of House Price Indexes: Eight Capital Cities, Dec 2008 (cat. no. 6416.0 )).
In September quarter 2008, the price of project homes in Melbourne rose by 0.6% from the previous quarter. Based on preliminary estimaes, the price of established homes decreased by 1.9% over the same period. Preliminary estimates of the weighted average of the eight capital cities showed a decrease of 1.8% in established house prices and an increase of 1.4% in project home prices in September quarter 2008.
From September quarter 2007 to September quarter 2008, established home prices in Melbourne rose by 8.1% while project home prices rose by 5.4%.
HOUSE PRICE INDEXES - Melbourne
View underlying table as an Excel spreadsheet: 1367.2
House Price Indexes, Melbourne and Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities (file size 53kB).