The national price growth of 0.6 per cent for February was the lowest since October 2020 and the downside risk was now more pronounced because increased global uncertainty and potentially weaker consumer sentiment and higher interest rates, according to CoreLogic.

In Sydney, prices fell (0.1 per cent) for the first time since September 2020 while Melbourne was flat after only small increases in December and January.

Despite the increases in Brisbane, CoreLogic said conditions were easing noticeably in the city where prices jumped by 29 per cent last year, the biggest increase nationally. Total listings in Brisbane were more than 24 per cent below the level of a year ago and more than 40 per cent below the five-year average.

Regional markets also continued to show resilience.

“Regional Australia continues to record a substantially higher rate of growth than the capital cities,” CoreLogic director of research Tim Lawless said.

“Over the past three months, housing values across the combined rest-of-state regions increased at more than three times the speed (5.7 per cent) of values across the combined capital cities (1.8 per cent).

“Regional housing markets aren’t immune to the higher cost of debt as fixed term mortgage rates rise. These markets are also increasingly impacted by worsening affordability constraints as housing prices consistently outpace incomes. ”

Lawless said it wasn’t just the prospect of rising interest rates that was impacting house prices.

“The pace of growth in housing values started to ease in April last year when foxed mortgage rates began to face upward pressure, fiscal support was expiring and housing affordability was becoming more stretched,” he said.

Rents also increased in February, but Lawless said that in cities like Brisbane where housing values had increased faster than rents yields were headed towards record lows, but were still above Sydney and Melbourne.