House prices in Australia climbed 1.8 percent on quarter in the second quarter of 2014, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.
That topped forecasts for an increase of 1.0 percent, and it was up from the downwardly revised 1.5 percent in the first quarter (originally 1.7 percent).
On a yearly basis, house prices jumped 10.1 percent - also beating expectations for 9.3 percent but slowing from 10.9 percent in the previous three months.
"The increase in prices has contributed to the increase in the total value of residential dwellings to $5.2 trillion in the June quarter 2014, an increase of almost half a trillion dollars since June 2013," said Robin Ashburn, Director of RPPI at the ABS.
The quarterly increase was due largely to increases in Sydney (+3.1 percent), Melbourne (+1.3 percent), Brisbane (+1.8 percent), Adelaide (+1.0 percent), Canberra (+0.8 percent), Darwin (+0.7 percent) and Hobart (+0.3 percent). Perth was the only city to record a decrease in the RPPI (-0.2 percent).
"For the weighted average of the eight capital cities, attached dwelling prices increased 1.9 percent in the June quarter 2014 compared to established house prices which increased 1.7 percent," Ashburn said.
Annually, residential property prices rose in Sydney (+15.6 percent), Melbourne (+9.3 percent), Brisbane (+6.8 percent), Adelaide (+5.6 percent), Hobart (+4.3 percent), Perth (+3.6), Darwin (+3.4 percent), and Canberra (+2.2 percent).
The total value of residential dwellings in Australia was A$5,196,355.9 million at the end of Q2, rising A$112,598.5 million over the quarter.
The mean price of residential dwellings climbed A$9,900 and the number of residential dwellings rose by 37,600 in the quarter.
Also on Tuesday:
• An index measuring business confidence in Australia touched a four-year high in July, the latest survey from National Australia Bank revealed - showing a score of +11. That's up from +8 in June.
The index for business conditions came in with a score of +2, rising from +2 in the previous month.
Among the individual components of the survey, home construction, retailing, sales, profitability and employment all showed improvement in July, the bank said.
• Credit card purchases in Australia were at A$23.1 billion in June, the Reserve Bank of Australia said - up from A$22.9 billion in May.
Credit card balances came in at A$49.9 billion, up from A$49.7 billion in the previous month.
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