Australian housing prices have experienced their steepest drop since the global financial crisis, according to property analysts CoreLogic.
On a national basis, property prices fell 4.8 per cent last year — driven mainly by sharp declines in Sydney (-8.9 per cent) and Melbourne (-7 per cent).
The latest figures from CoreLogic show national dwelling values have slumped 5.2 per cent since their peak in October 2017.
“This is the worst fall we’ve seen since the GFC, which was a short and sharp correction, down about 5 per cent from peak to trough,” CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless told ABC News.
“We see the Australian market slip further into negative territory — a longer and steeper downturn.”
Values have dropped in half of the nation’s capital cities, with Perth (-4.7 per cent) and Darwin (-1.5 per cent) also recording substantial falls.
Prices are still rising in the other capitals — Hobart (+8.7 per cent), Canberra (+3.3 per cent), Adelaide (+1.3 per cent) and Brisbane (+0.2 per cent) — but at a much slower pace than before.
Tighter lending standards were the biggest contributor to the property downturn, followed by a significant drop in foreign buyers, and a rise in mortgage rates.
Despite Sydney and Melbourne recording the weakest market conditions, they have fallen much less from their peak prices compared to Perth and Darwin.
Since July 2017, Sydney values have fallen 11.1 per cent, back to where they were in August 2016.
Melbourne prices have dropped 7.2 per cent since their November 2017 peak.
Meanwhile, the Perth and Darwin downturns have resulted in them dropping 15.6 and 24.5 per cent from their respective peaks.