The latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics suggest the interest rate cuts in the final four months of 2008, along with increased first home owners' grants, helped to slow the rate of decline.
The figures were in tune with other indicators recently, telling a similar story.
The index for established house prices fell by 0.8 per cent in the December quarter, the third consecutive quarterly decline, after a much bigger fall of 2.4 per cent in the September quarter.
There were falls in all state capitals with the exception of Adelaide, and minor rises in the territory capitals.
The annual rate of decline, 3.3 per cent, was the fastest in the 23-year history of the ABS house price survey, but it was hardly a collapse.
And no city recorded at bigger fall in the December quarter than in the September quarter, suggesting the deterioration in demand for housing was at least interrupted in the latter stages of 2008.
There is more to housing prices than demand, of course.
Most likely in the December quarter many would-be sellers put their plans on hold in the December quarter, so no-one should take these figures as a sign that the housing market is suddenly returning to robust health. - Source: AAP NewsWire
