Brisbane recorded the sharpest monthly decline among the capital cities at 1.5 per cent, followed by Sydney at 1.4 per cent and Melbourne at 0.7 per cent. Darwin was the only market to avoid a fall, posting a 0.4 per cent rise. Across the capitals, 97 per cent of suburbs saw value declines over the past three months, according to Cotality research director Tim Lawless, who described the downturn as broad-based.
"I think a 10 per cent to 15 per cent drop is probably a fairly reasonable estimate at the moment," Mr Lawless said. "It really depends on how far do interest rates rise and when do we actually start to see the RBA moving into a more dovish period where rate cuts might be on the agenda."
Queensland developer Soheil Abedian, behind luxury Gold Coast projects including Australia's tallest building Q1, warned that further interest rate rises could trigger more builder bankruptcies. He cited the Middle East war, Labor's budget changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax, and rate hikes as factors denting property prices.
"You cannot do any development in Australia that is not bankable," Mr Abedian said. "If [there is a] 10 to 15 per cent reduction we have in the value of the homes, the number of the bankruptcies that we have witnessed in the last twelve months, that increases rapidly and will damage the industry more."