Australian house prices plummet for fifth straight quarter as mortgage debt climbs

PHOTO: Property prices fell an average 3% across all capital cities in the March quarter wiping $170 billion dollars off the national housing market.

Australians’ mortgage debt has continued to grow faster than the value of real estate assets, as house prices plummet for a fifth consecutive quarter.

A resurgent share market helped household wealth edge higher in the March quarter, but plummeting house prices meant mortgage debt continued to grow faster than the value of real estate assets.

Household wealth in Australia lifted 0.2 per cent to $10.24 trillion during the first three months of 2019, having dipped by 2.1 per cent the previous quarter, with superannuation reserves the primary beneficiary of a $147.8 billion rebound in company shares.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 9.46 per cent in the three months to March, having dipped by 9.04 per cent in the December quarter.

But Thursday’s data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed a fifth consecutive quarter of residential real estate losses, which was the main factor behind a decline in household wealth per person by $1,500 to $404,566.