December 2024 was the first month Australian property values fell nationally in nearly two years. CoreLogic's data clocked a 0.1% dip, modest on paper, but the direction matters as much as the number. Here's what it actually means for buyers, sellers and investors across Australia.
The Numbers Behind the Decline
Sydney led the retreat with a 0.6% fall in December, taking the combined capital city monthly figure negative for the first time since January 2023. Melbourne dropped 0.7%. Brisbane, which had run 25 consecutive months of growth and posted a staggering 15.4% annual gain in the year to June 2024, finally recorded its first monthly decline. Even Perth: the star performer of the 2024 cycle with 24.6% annual growth, slowed noticeably.
The silver lining: for the full 2024 calendar year, national values still rose 4.9%, adding roughly $38,000 to the median home value. So we're not talking about a crash. We're talking about a market that ran hard, met a wall of affordability constraints, and is now adjusting. That's a different thing entirely.
Why the Headline Figure Hides the Detail
A national figure of 0.1% is an average of very different stories. Sydney and Melbourne pulled the number down, Brisbane only just turned, and Perth was still slowing from a very high base, so what a buyer in one city experiences can look nothing like the headline. Individual suburbs and property types move at their own pace within each of those markets as well.
What tends to hold across every market in a turn like this is that well priced homes still sell, while listings that open above what buyers will pay sit for weeks. The difference between a quick sale and a prolonged listing right now comes down almost entirely to the first asking price.
What to Do If You're Buying, Investing or Refinancing
For first-home buyers, a softer December is opportunity. Fewer competing buyers, more vendor flexibility, and, critically, rate cuts arriving in 2025 that will lift your borrowing capacity as prices stabilise. Getting pre-approved now, before the next rate cut reinvigorates buyer competition, is the smartest move.
For investors, this is the moment to get selective. When prices soften and rents hold, gross yields edge up, so the numbers on a purchase can look better than they did a year or two ago. Focus on the fundamentals of the specific property and location, including land content, rental demand and supply, rather than buying on the strength of a national trend.
For those refinancing, Michael's advice is straightforward: don't wait for the market to recover or deteriorate further. Your rate is the variable you can control right now. With lenders competing hard for refinance business through late 2024 and into 2025, there are meaningful savings available, often $300–600 per month on a $700,000 loan, regardless of what the broader market is doing.
Don't let market uncertainty hold you back. Speak with Michael and the Mankin Finance team to understand what this means for your situation specifically.
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