“So far, we haven’t seen any evidence of panicked selling or forced sales”: CoreLogic.
By Wolf Richter for WOLF STREET.
In the most glorious housing bubbles, home prices are tumbling, as inflation is surging and central banks are trying to contain this raging inflation with rate hikes, and so mortgage rates are surging, and home prices are tanking – this is now the theme in lots of countries, particularly those with majestic housing bubbles, such as Australia.
In Australia, inflation spiked to 7.3% in the third quarter, up from 6.1% in the second quarter, and up from 3% a year earlier. The Reserve Bank of Australia has hiked its target for the cash rate six times so far this year, from 0.1% to 2.6%, but lagging woefully behind surging inflation. A seventh rate hike is expected on November 1, to 2.85%, while inflation is raging at 7.3%.
Home prices across Australia, after falling another 1.2% in October from September, have now dropped below year-ago-levels (-0.9%).
This year-over-year decline makes Australia’s housing bust far more advanced than the housing bust in the US, where home prices have been dropping for a few months nationally, but are still up from a year ago.
Home prices in Sydney fell 10.2% from the peak in January 2022, after dropping another 1.3% in October from September, with house prices falling faster than condo (“unit”) prices, according to CoreLogic.
Year-over-year, home prices in Sydney fell 8.6%, as the ridiculous spike…
