It’s the news first-home buyers have been waiting on for more than five years: property values are falling across most of the country. But does that mean homes are actually more affordable?

Let’s look at the numbers. Across the combined capital cities market, the median dwelling value has fallen 1.8 per cent from its peak in December 2017.

Melbourne is not far behind in the downswing phase, falling 2.1 per cent in value since peaking in December 2017.

Affordability has improved in all capitals where property prices have started to decline.

But the median multiple is still well above affordable housing thresholds in several capital city markets. The median multiple is an affordability metric employed by the World Bank. It measures how many times the gross annual median income goes into median dwelling values. A score of 5.1 and over is considered “severely unaffordable”.

Drawing on Domain price data and adjusted census income data, the change in price and the median multiple across capital city markets, since the respective peaks, is assessed in below.