Home owners are taking 6.3% off their asking prices in an effort to shift their properties in a softening market, according to Australian Property Monitors.

Vendors are offering bigger discounts now than in April when they were coming down 5.7%. The report found apartment prices stayed level – coming down 5.1%, compared to 5.2% in April. Meanwhile, September quarter figures reveal that median house prices have fallen 2.07% over the last three months. But median house prices are at $663,000 – an increase of 8.61% over the year, according to Residex.

Chief executive John Edwards told the Sydney Morning Herald that the recent fall in house prices was greater than any experienced during the GFC. ''We are expecting growth of 3.22 per cent per annum for houses over the next five years,'' he said.

He cautioned that “unaffordability is not at its worst position”, although the RBA should exercise caution in raising rates.