The key thing that Australian consumers need to know about property prices is that the state of play depends on whose figures you read.

Media reports CoreLogic data most of the time and tends to treat it as gospel truth – and never acknowledges the reality that there are other credible sources of price information which often disagree with the CoreLogic figures.

CoreLogic is undoubtedly the most negative of the price data sources, which may be why journalists favour their figures. That company’s tendency to focus on the negatives certainly suits the narrative that most media outlets prefer.

But other reputable sources of property data have figures that conflict with CoreLogic’s, a fact that should be highlighted more than it is.