Sydney Property Falls for Seventh Month as Regional Cities Gain

(Bloomberg) -- Property values in Sydney fell for the seventh straight month in March as the once-booming housing market continues to cool.

Prices in the nation’s biggest city declined 0.3 percent last month and are down 2.1 percent from a year earlier, CoreLogic Inc. data released Tuesday show. By contrast prices in Hobart rose 1.7 percent and are up 13 percent on the year.

A combination of tighter mortgage-lending standards, regulatory restrictions on investor loans and affordability constraints are weighing on the Sydney market. While the pace of decline has slowed, few predict a quick rebound.

“Even if the housing market is close to finding a floor, the prospect for a rebound in capital gains, as seen through late 2016 and early 2017, are far less likely,” CoreLogic’s head of research Tim Lawless said.

Both investors and owner-occupiers are beginning to look at cheaper regional cities. Hobart -- the capital of sleepy-paced Tasmania -- is one of the favored destinations. At A$423,468 ($324,290) the average property costs less than half its Sydney equivalent.

To contact the reporter on this story: Emily Cadman in Sydney at ecadman2@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Marcus Wright at mwright115@bloomberg.net, Peter Vercoe, Edward Johnson

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