Melbourne’s pandemic property boom has come to an end, as new figures show house prices fell 0.7 per cent to a median $1.092 million in the March quarter for the first time since the June quarter of 2020 amid jitters over rising interest rates. Unit prices fell 2.2 per over the quarter, their steepest fall since 2017. More homes have been listed for sale in our beautiful bayside, offering greater choice for buyers, while new caps on home lending and the prospect of rising interest rates are limiting how much buyers will pay. The market has lost a touch of momentum since its peak in 2021 however with 8% more properties listed this year those figures reflect that buyers have more choice and are making slower decisions

Interest rate rises will also affect the housing market, she said, but the impact would depend on the size and pace of the moves. On the flipside, reopened international borders could support demand for housing. By region, the falls were led by a 5.4 per cent quarterly drop in the inner south – a large statistical region that stretches from Brighton almost to the peninsula, which boomed during lockdowns as remote workers moved to live by the beach.  Prices also fell 3.6 per cent in the leafy north-east, another popular lockdown spot, and by 2.8 per cent in the inner suburbs.The report comes as headline inflation reached its highest pace in two decades, official figures on Wednesday showed. Rising consumer prices could give the Reserve Bank confidence that the economy is recovering strongly enough to start lifting interest rates from their emergency-era low levels, and economists expect the first hike as soon as May or June.