<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>332203</docID> <postdate>2024-11-01 09:37:47</postdate> <headline>Sydney home prices edge lower as slowdown expands</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-328561" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/210910ac-woden_skyline-16-resized-e1725607156834.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="601" /></p> <caption>The slowdown was particularly visible in apartments, with unit rents down in Canberra over the three months to late October.</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Poppy Johnston</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>A dip in Sydney property prices will be welcomed by prospective homebuyers, with the city tipped to mimic Melbourne's shallow downturn.</strong></p> <p>Home values in the harbourside city fell a very minor 0.1 per cent as price growth in high performing mid-sized capitals and the regions kept CoreLogic's national index moving higher overall in October.</p> <p>The 0.3 per cent lift in the national home value index marked 12 months of growth, but the pace has been slowing.</p> <p>Heat is coming out of the rental market as well, in welcome reprieve for tenants and boding well for the inflation outlook.</p> <p>The slowdown was particularly visible in apartments, with unit rents down in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and Canberra over the three months to late October.</p> <p>CoreLogic's research director Tim Lawless said the housing outlook was shifting.</p> <p>As well as slower growth in home values, there was more stock on the market, providing home buyers with more choice.</p> <p>"Total listings are now 13.2 per cent above the previous five-year average in Sydney and 13 per cent higher in Melbourne," he said.</p> <p>Greater choice and less urgency to buy could in part explain Sydney's first monthly decline in nearly two years.</p> <p>Sydney would likely follow a similar trajectory to Melbourne, which has been in a shallow correction - down less than two per cent over the year - as listing supply has improved, Mr Lawless told AAP.</p> <p>Buyers hitting an affordability ceiling was also weighing on price growth, with Sydney experiencing a "spectacular growth phase" since the pandemic.</p> <p>Stronger performance across the more affordable end of markets was evidence of buyer budgets reaching their limits.</p> <p>Even Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane - which have been consistently high performers - were losing momentum.</p> <p>Adelaide's 1.1 per cent gain was the lowest monthly rise since June.</p> <p>Brisbane's 0.7 per cent lift was the weakest improvement since July.</p> <p>A dip into the negative across the nationwide index was possible but Mr Lawless said the prospect of interest rate cuts early next year should keep a floor under prices.</p> <p>The strong labour market and subdued outlook for new housing supply would further support property values.</p> </body>