RBA says Iran impact on housing market worse than expected

The housing market has been weaker than the Reserve Bank anticipated since war in the Middle East began, raising fresh concerns over the path ahead for homeowners and borrowers when it comes to interest rates.Speaking in Sydney on Tuesday, governor Michele Bullock said the property market has been a standout poor performer in the economy since United States-Israel coordinated attacks on Iran began.“We had expected conditions to ease in response to the changed outlook for monetary policy and the rise in the cash rate earlier this year, but the housing market has eased by more than we had anticipated,” Ms Bullock said.The governor said both general softening and policy changes introduced in the May budget reflected the easing.While easing this year has been modest following a period of strong growth, the median price of a home in Australia in June was only $6000 higher than in February, with annual growth having dropped from 9.1% to 5.8%, the Home Price Index shows.Ms Bullock acknowledged price declines had been largely concentrated in the Sydney and Melbourne markets, where prices in June were down 0.5% and 0.4% in the cities respectively.Home values are falling in Australia's prici...