Housing prices appear to have started their normal late-June rebound following the seasonal dip beginning in May.
Housing prices rose by 0.6 per cent last week, according to the RP Data measure based on weekly auctions results released on Monday, in line with the rebound from the early-winter dip seen last year and the year before.
The overall pattern of price movements is still patchy.
Last week, prices rose by 1.0 per cent in Melbourne and 0.8 per cent in Sydney.
They were unchanged in Brisbane and Perth and fell 0.6 per cent in Adelaide.
But, taking the national average as a guide, there's no sign that this year is any different from last year.
The average of the combined five mainland state capitals rose by 9.8 per cent through 2013, according to RP Data.
So far in 2014, with nearly half the year gone, prices have risen only 2.4 per cent.
While that might suggest that this year's performance has not been as strong as last year's, the year-to-date rise being reported by RP Data this time last year was only 2.2 per cent.
So this year's overall pattern looks much the same as last year's.
That's despite significant variation between the capital cities.
Last year, prices were up by 3.6 per cent in Sydney and 5.2 per cent in Perth, with the other mainland capitals each hanging onto minor gains of less than one per cent for the year to date.
This year, with the mining investment boom fading, Perth has managed only a narrow 0.2 per cent gain so far this year, but Sydney's rises have been faster than last year, at 4.6 per cent.
Gains so far this year in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth have been small, around one per cent or less, but Brisbane has racked up a rise of 2.8 per cent.
While demand for housing has been shared around unevenly, a key measure of the market's strength remains relatively high.
Auction clearances rates averaged a solid 66.6 per cent last week, virtually the same as the 67.0 per cent in the same week last year, albeit down from exceptionally high rates averaging over 70 per cent earlier in the year.
But the decline from the higher levels earlier this year had already run its course a couple of months ago.
So it does not appear to be part of a new, ongoing downward trend on auction clearance rates.
The question now for homebuyers and investors is whether that earlier fall in clearance rates resumes in the coming few months, preventing prices from repeating last-year's second-half surge, rather than heading higher as it did last year in late winter and early spring.
But, based on the recent behaviour of buyers, there's no strong reason to suppose the market is about to deflate.
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