Victoria and Tasmania have Australia’s top five most affordable suburbs for houses, while the most affordable units are in South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales, according to new analysis of the 12 months to April 2015.

The National Australia Bank and CoreLogic RP Data Australian Housing Market Report, winter edition 2015, also shows Australian capital city home values increased by 7.9% over the past year.

NAB commissioned the report to help customers looking for affordable options across the property market.

NAB General Manager Home Lending, Meg Bonighton, said the report provided valuable insights into the housing market for home loan customers.

“Buying a home can be daunting, and we recognise that individual circumstances will vary, so it’s important to sit down with your banker or broker to work out a plan that’s right for you,” Ms Bonighton said.

In the year to April 2015, Sydney and Melbourne home values increased by 14.5% and 6.9% respectively, with Brisbane recording a 2.2% increase as the third-best performing capital city.

Meanwhile, regional areas across our major states saw much weaker conditions with the annual rate of house value growth outside capital cities recorded at 4.6% in New South Wales, -0.9% in Victoria and 1.1% in Queensland.

Looking ahead to where house prices may go in the short term, the Australian Housing Market Report also shows:

• NAB expects average capital city house price growth will cool, while remaining in positive territory at 6.4% through to the end of 2015.
• Capital growth is expected to be led by Sydney (10%), followed by Melbourne (6.2%), Brisbane (3%) and Adelaide (0.4%). House prices in Perth are expected to fall (-2.5%).
• Average national house price growth is expected to moderate in 2016 to 3.8%, largely reflecting NAB’s expectations for rising unemployment, sluggish household income growth, affordability concerns (especially in Sydney and Melbourne), cost of living pressures and continuing high levels of household debt.
• By individual capital city, NAB expects house price growth to accelerate modestly in Brisbane (5%) and Adelaide (0.5%), and remain flat in Perth. In contrast, prices are expected to slow in Sydney (5%) and Melbourne (3.5%).

All of the above information and more can be found in the full report.