As many analysts predicted, the downturn that began in November last year turned out to be short and shallow, with February's gains already close to undoing the 0.4% decline to January.
The national median dwelling price is now $816,000, just 0.1% away from the all time high of October last year.
Australia's largest cities in particular came roaring back, with Sydney prices rising 0.3% through the month and Melbourne the biggest grower alongside Hobart at 0.4%.
Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, the three strongest performers over the past couple of years, still saw prices go up by 0.2-0.3%, but all three appear to have come off the boil - although Adelaide remains the city with the strongest quarterly growth (1.2%).
However, the regional areas in their respective states are all still cranking, with Regional WA (+1.0%), Regional SA (+0.6%) and Regional Queensland (+0.5%) outperforming all the capitals.
Darwin was the only area where prices went down, a 0.1% drop that we may see revised, while Regional Victoria prices stayed neutral.
Property prices turning around will be unsurprising for most people after the RBA cut rates on February 18 - lower rates can increase demand as borrowing power improves.
However, CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless thinks the biggest impact of the cash rate cut wasn't the immediate lift in how much people can borrow, but the sense of optimism about conditions continuing to improve.
"Expectations of lower interest rates, which solidified in February, look to be flowing through to improved buyer sentiment," Mr Lawless said.
"Along with the modest rise in values, we have also seen an improvement in auction clearance rates, which have risen back to around long-run average levels across the major auction markets."
Sydney and Melbourne to turn around?
The February results are the first monthly increase in Sydney since July last year, while the Melbourne median has been heading down since March.
Prices in both cities remain well below all time , but these numbers back up research from CoreLogic earlier this year that found the Sydney and Melbourne markets have historically been most sensitive to interest rate cuts.
The analysis from CoreLogic Head of Research Eliza Owen found that more expensive areas tend to be more responsive to rate changes - Leichardt for example in inner-west Sydney typically sees house prices go up 19% for every 1% decline in the cash rate.
It's arguably still too soon to tell though whether this is the start of a long term trend, and it's also worth noting CoreLogic will likely revise these numbers in the coming months.
However, Sydney and Melbourne being the strongest performers in February was also backed up by rival research house PropTrack, which estimated the Melbourne median rose 0.67% while Sydney prices went up 0.5%.
Any hope for first home buyers?
While RBA governor Michele Bullock has played down talk of several more cuts before the end of the year, markets are more bearish about the cash rates prospects in 2025.
Trading activity on 30 Day InterBank Cash Rate Futures implies the cash rate will be 3.55% by December, which implies another 0.55% worth of cuts.
Most Aussies that already have a mortgage will be hoping this does come to fruition, but budding first home buyers may be feeling a sense of foreboding that lower interest rates could push prices further out of reach and hamper their savings efforts.
Housing affordability will almost certainly be a major issue at the upcoming federal election, and both parties will put forward their proposals to improve the prospects of Australians looking to buy.
Labor will likely be talking up the Help to Buy scheme, where the government makes an equity contribution to eligible first home buyers, while the Coalition wants to introduce a policy that would allow FHBs to dip into their superannuation for a deposit.
"We think choice really matters...it's bizarre that our superannuation money can be spent or invested on anybody's house except your own, I think that's just extraordinary," Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor told the Savings Tip Jar podcast.
Given neither of these suggestions will do anything to bring property prices down though (and indeed could even inflate them), first home buyers seemingly have no choice but to put their faith in both parties' promises to significantly ramp up the construction of new properties.
Picture by Urlaubstracker on Unsplash
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