Sydney house prices down

A sharp drop in Sydney has pushed down Australian state capital city house prices by 0.1 per cent, new figures released today show.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said prices in Sydney dropped 3.1 per cent in the quarter, but they rose in every other capital city.

Perth led the charge, with prices there up 3.8 per cent, while they also lifted in Adelaide (1.5 per cent), Darwin (1.4 per cent), Melbourne (1.3 per cent), Brisbane (0.8 per cent), Canberra (0.3 per cent) and Hobart (0.2 per cent).

Over the full year, established home prices dropped 0.1 per cent. This is the first full year fall since the March quarter of 1996.

Again, the figures were heavily affected by Sydney where prices were down five per cent over the past year.

But in Perth, prices were up 11.7 per cent, in Darwin they rose 8.6 per cent, in Adelaide they were up seven per cent, in Canberra they lifted 2.5 per cent and in Brisbane they improved 1.8 per cent.

However, prices dropped 1.4 per cent over the year in Melbourne and 0.8 per cent in Hobart.

- AAP