House values up but unit values record slight dip across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie

CoreLogic's latest national Home Value Index (HVI) released on Tuesday revealed that the region recorded a fifth consecutive monthly increase, with house values up 0.7 per cent last month.

The median house value in Newcastle and Lake Macquarie has grown to $865,109.

However, unit values fell 0.5 per cent to hold a median value of $642,684.

Houses in the Hunter Valley (excluding Newcastle) also recorded growth in July, with values up 0.3 per cent to hold a median value of $690,015.

Unit values in the region recorded a slight fall in July, down 0.3 per cent to hold a median value of $508,007.

CoreLogic research director Tim Lawless said housing growth in the region placed Newcastle and Lake Macquarie among the top three regional SA4 markets nationally.

"The region recorded the fastest rate of capital gain over the past three months across Regional NSW SA4's, with values up 3.0 per cent," Mr Lawless said.

"Across the regional SA4 markets nationally, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie ranked third highest based on the change in dwelling values over the past three months, after the Gold Coast with 4 per cent and the South East of Tasmania with 3.1 per cent."

On a national scale, housing values rose 0.7 per cent in July.

Since prices began picking up in February, the national home value index is up 4.1 per cent, following a decline of 9.1 per cent decline from record highs in April 2022.

Nationally, home values remain 5.3 per cent below the April 2022 peak.

Mr Lawless said he anticipated further growth in the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie region.

"The growth trend is looking somewhat entrenched in the region, however, the pace of growth decelerated in July, down from 1.3 per cent in June to 0.6 per cent in July," he said.

"Arguably, the previous two months, where housing values were rising at 1.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent in May/June was an unsustainable rate of growth, especially in light of low sentiment and high intertest rates."

The Reserve Bank of Australia is scheduled to meet on Tuesday to deliver its latest announcement.

In this month's Finder RBA Cash Rate Survey, the majority of panelists (67 per cent) believed the RBA would hold the cash rate at 4.10% in August.

Mr Lawless said the outlook for the region's housing values was highly dependent on the trajectory of interest rates and sentiment.

"It's likely we will see further growth in housing values but probably at a more subdued pace than seen through May and June," he said.

Overall, regional housing values lagged behind the capital cities with the combined regionals index rising 0.2 per cent in July compared with an increase of 0.8 per cent across the combined capitals index.

Mr Lawless said that low advertised supply across Newcastle and Lake Macquarie also played a role in rising housing values.

"Newly advertised properties were 17 per cent below the decade average in July and total advertised listings were 15.4 per cent below the decade average," he said.

"Such tight supply levels are likely to be creating some urgency among active buyers."

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