18.06.201901:38:00UTC+00Australia House Price Index Slides In Q1

Australia's house price index declined in the first quarter of 2019, data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed on Tuesday.

House prices in Australia were down 3.0 percent sequentially in the March quarter. That exceeded expectations for a decline of 2.6 percent.

On a yearly basis, house prices dropped 7.4 percent in March. Economists had forecasts for a fall of 6.9 percent.

The total value of residential dwellings in Australia fell to A$6.6 trillion in the March quarter 2019.

Property prices in Adelaide slid 0.2 percent, marking the first fall since March 2013. Prices dropped 1.5 percent in Brisbane and by 1.1 percent in Perth.

"These results are in line with soft housing market indicators, with sales transactions and auction clearance rates lower than one year ago, and days on market trending higher," Bruce Hockman, ABS chief economist, said.