The brakes are finally starting to come down on the Australian property market, with a tiny amount of growth recorded over the last few months. Nationally, growth has come in at just 0.2% for that period, with the Sydney market taking a leaf out of the Coles playbook: “Prices are down”. And it’s the first time in 4 years!

When you look at the national market over the past year, the data geeks at the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) have shown total growth down from what was 10.7% (Year total to September) down to just 8.7% (Year total to December).

The Sydney market’s decline of 1.6 per cent is the first drop it has seen since the March quarter in 2012, with Darwin performing only slightly worse, falling 1.8 per cent in the December quarter.

JP Morgan’s Tom Kennedy noted Sydney’s result should be viewed in the context of a booming previous few quarters, and said the market still looks “frothy”, maintaining growth of 13.9 per cent over the year.

“The monthly house price data indicates Sydney dwelling price growth has continued to cool in the first quarter, a theme we expect to persist this year,” Mr Kennedy said.

The strongest performing capital was Canberra – up 2.8 per cent – with Hobart following not far behind with an increase of 2.5 per cent over the quarter.

Both Melbourne and Brisbane achieved 1.6 per cent gains, contributing to annual increases of 9.6 per cent and 4.2 per cent respectively.

Perth, although still down 2.9 per cent for the year, managed a slight increase of 0.5 per cent – a reversal of recent trends.

Gains of 0.5 in Adelaide contributed to an annualised increase of 3.3 per cent.

The weighted average residential property index measured across the eight capitals rose at an annual rate of 4.7 per cent in the June quarter, dropping to 2 per cent in September and 0.2 per cent in December.

According to Mr Kennedy, the figures – which show the slowest growth rate for a single quarter since 2012 – back up the idea that the property market started to lose pace late last year.

The data is supported by recent February figures from the CoreLogic RP Data series which reported a widespread cooling of property prices, with Sydney losing its place as the nation’s fastest growing market to Melbourne.