Australia: Residential property price index to show a robust 2.5% gain in Q4 - Westpac

Research Team at Westpac expects the ABS to show a robust 2.5% gain in Q4 lifting annual growth back towards 6% as more timely data shows the price acceleration has carried into early 2017 with Sydney and Melbourne leading the way.

Key Quotes

“Note that the ABS residential property price index is more dated than private sector measures but still gains attention due to its 'official' tag. For Q3, it showed a 1.5% lift with annual price growth slowing to 3.5%. In contrast, most private sector measures show a clear quickening in price growth in recent quarters.”

“Private sector measures registered Q4 price moves ranging from 3.5%qtr, 6.7%yr (APM), 1.8%qtr, 3.0%yr (Residex), and 2.1%qtr, 9.9%yr (CoreLogic). The ABS measure tends to track the APM series.”