Australia’s residential property lost a combined $13 billion in value in the three months to July, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The ABS residential property price index across the eight major cities fell 0.7 per cent over the June quarter, to be down 0.6 per cent over 12 months.

It is the first annual fall since the June quarter in 2012.

ABS Chief Economist Bruce Hockman said that Australia’s two largest cities continued to lead the fall.

Sydney recorded its fourth consecutive quarter of falling property prices (-1.2 per cent) while Melbourne was down for the second consecutive quarter (-0.8 per cent).

“The initial slowdown in these markets was spurred by regulatory changes and a tightening in the supply of credit to investors,” Mr Hockman said.

“A drop in investor demand over recent months appears to be adding to the slowing in housing credit growth.

“The effect of this is more pronounced in the larger property markets of Sydney and Melbourne.”

With the exception of Hobart (+15.5 per cent), most capital cities have continued to record a moderation in annual growth rates since the September quarter 2017.

On ABS figures, the total value of Australia’s 10 million residential dwellings decreased $36 billion to $6.9 trillion.

The mean price of dwellings in Australia is now $686,200.

-ABC