CANBERRA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Australian capital city home prices fell an average of 5.1 percent from a year earlier.
According to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Tuesday, residential property prices across Australia's eight capital cities fell an average of 2.4 percent in the final quarter of 2018.
The 2.4 percent decline represents about 133 billion Australian dollars (94.4 billion U.S. dollars) being wiped off the total value of Australia's 10.3 million residential dwellings.
According to ABS, the residential property price indexes are compiled quarterly by the ABS for the quarters ending in March, June, September and December each year.
Sydney property prices fell 3.7 percent in the December quarter 2018, while Melbourne property prices recorded the fourth consecutive quarter of falls (-2.4 percent).
"Australia's two largest cities continue to lead the fall in property prices," Bruce Hockman, the ABS' Chief Economist, said in a media release on Tuesday. "These falls follow a period of solid growth, where prices in Sydney rose 68 percent and Melbourne rose 54 percent, over the five years to December quarter 2017.
"While property prices are falling in most capital cities, a tightening in credit supply and reduced demand from investors and owner occupiers have had a more pronounced effect on the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne."
Outside of the two biggest cities the residential property prices also fell in Darwin, Perth and Brisbane in the December quarter 2018.
The average price of a residential dwelling at the end of the December quarter was about 651,100 Australian dollars (462,402 U.S. dollars) in Australia.
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