Australian Property Monitors’ June quarterly house price report shows that the median price of a house in Orange is $10,000 down from the $300,000 it was just three months ago.

However, there has still been an increase of 8 per cent in the year-to-date figures, well ahead of CPI growth.

In comparison, Bathurst median house prices have risen in the last quarter to $315,000, up from $295,000.

A year ago median prices in Bathurst were $265,000.

APM economist Matthew Bell said the latest figures showed a 20 per cent rise in the median price of houses in Bathurst when compared to last year.

“The figures for Bathurst are very strong,” Mr Bell said.

“In fact, they are even stronger than capital cities like Melbourne and Sydney.

“On the other hand Orange has been fairly weak. It shows that it’s a small volatile market.”

Mr Bell said although these latest figures were disappointing for Orange, in the long term the market was consistent with most other regional markets.

“While the capital gains have been better in some markets there’s no reason why there can’t be improvements in the long term,” he said.

Nationally, house price growth slowed to 2.4 per cent this quarter, however annual house price growth was still at around 15 per cent.

Mr Bell said increased investor activity had made up for the fall in demand from owner-occupiers, and also accounted for the drop-off in first home buyers.

“The overall strong results in each (capital city) market, with the exception of Brisbane, will certainly come as a surprise to many, given the six interest rate rises to May, and considering last year’s house price recovery post-GFC was driven by extraordinary growth in the top end of the market,” Mr Bell said.

The median price of a house in Sydney is $625,000, and just above $435,000 for a unit.

* The median price is calculated by ranking every sale price in the quarter from least to most expensive and then selecting the middle ranked sale price. The average price is all sale prices added up, and divided by the number of sales. (That’s why a single million dollar sale can really affect the average price).

tracey.prisk@ruralpress .com