Tanya Plibersek tells Matt Canavan to ‘take a deep breath’ as house prices fall

National house prices have fallen for a fourth consecutive month, with Darwin being the only capital to rise in the median cost.

The national median dwelling price fell 0.3 per cent in July, the latest PropTrack Home Price Index shows, while annual price growth still runs at 3.9 per cent.

In Sydney, the median price fell 0.6 per cent for the month to $1.563m.

Adelaide and Hobart fell 0.5 per cent, Melbourne dipped 0.4 per cent, Brisbane fell 0.3 per cent, while Perth lost 0.2 per cent.

Doing the breakfast TV rounds Monday, federal frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said the falling prices meant it was the best time in her lifetime to be a first-home buyer.

More than 260,000 homes have been purchased using the government’s 5 per cent first-home buyer scheme, she said.

“We’re seeing at auctions right across Australia first-home buyers bidding for a home of their own and I think that is fantastic,” Ms Plibersek said.

“You know how hard it is to save a 20 per cent deposit if you’re paying rent in Sydney? It was impossible and we were locking people out of the housing market – now they’ve got a shot at doing what their parents and their grandparents took for granted.

“There’s a generation of young Australians who are feeling this enormous sense of relief because they thought they were going to be renting forever.”

Ms Plibersek told Nationals leader Matt Canavan, appearing opposite, to calm down and “take a deep breath” at one point.

“We made a promise to Australians that if they work hard and they save, they’ll be able to afford a home of their own, and we’re keeping that promise,” Ms Plibersek said.

Senator Canavan said a decreasing number of houses selling was not good news for anyone, including first-home buyers.

“How in the hell can you sit there and say this is the best time to be a first-home buyer?” he said.

“Economic conditions are very tough for people, houses aren’t even selling. I mean, no one benefits if no homes are being sold or very few are being sold.

“We have a lack of confidence in the property market, a lack of confidence in this government’s economic performance.”

Senator Canavan blamed the government for inflation being “through the roof”.

The Queensland senator also said Australia’s inflation “is the highest in the developed world”; of the G20 nations, Australia has the seventh-highest inflation rate.

Over on News24, deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume echoed the sentiment that falling median home prices and plummeting auction clearance rates meant “new uncertainty” for investors and homebuyers alike.

The PropTrack data shows on average capital city prices fell 0.4 per cent for the month, while there was no change on average in regional areas.

The national median dwelling price has now come down 1.8 per cent from its peak earlier this year.

The median price of a unit fell 0.2 per cent in July, while freestanding house prices came down 0.4 per cent. Also across a national average, annual price growth remains at 3.9 per cent, up 31.2 per cent over the past five years.

PropTrack senior economist Anne Flaherty said falling prices were a result of three interest rate hikes this year and capital gains and negative gearing changes cutting demand.

“I do think it’s going to continue to become even more of a buyer’s market,” Ms Flaherty said.

“We’re predicting prices have further to fall before the end of the year.

“Buyers who are first-home buyers or upsizers, they probably have a greater incentive to hold out until prices reach the floor.”

• PropTrack is owned by REA Group, which is majority owned by the publisher of NewsWire