If you believe the latest round of media commentary, you’ll be convinced the end is near for Australia’s property market.

The headlines would have you believe that prices are falling everywhere and the so-called national property boom is over. The reality is a long way from that scenario.

It can be difficult to understand what is really happening in Australian property markets because of simplistic and often sensationalist reporting by news media. Treatment of the latest price data from CoreLogic is a case in point. It says house prices fell in December in Sydney and Melbourne, resulting in a 0.1% drop in the national average. Then, right on cue, we are bombarded with headlines that the property market is in decline and prices are falling.

The figures show something quite different is happening. In most markets, house prices continue to rise and are up nationally by 5.2% in 2024. Australia has 15 market jurisdictions, eight capital cities and seven regional centres, and 11 of those recorded house price growth in 2024.

Prices are up more than 10% in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Regional Queensland, Regional South Australia and Regional WA, with smaller increases in Sydney, Darwin, Canberra, Regional NSW and Regional Tasmania. What this data does show is not that the market is falling but that the rate of price growth in the markets that have been booming is now slowing, most notably in Perth.

The reality is that house prices and unit prices continue to rise in most of the major markets nationwide.