‘Significant turnaround’ in Australian house prices defies predictions as demand rises

A stronger than expected lift in demand over the past two months is nudging property prices higher and delivering the highest auction clearance rates in more than a year, data group CoreLogic says.

If the price rises are maintained for the rest of the year, home values will end up about 4% higher in 2023, defying earlier predictions of sharp falls of 10% or more for this year, CoreLogic says.

“Economists are shredding their previous price forecasts,” said Sally Tindall, research director for RateCity. “There’s been a significant turnaround.”

The prediction followed another week of…