Property prices have begun to slow across the country, and there are expectations that in most capital cities, property prices are set to fall over the next three years.

While some cities and pockets will buck the overall trend, it’s likely Australian property prices will be lacklustre next year.

Here are five charts that explain experts’ predictions of sluggish national price growth in 2017.

Confidence is falling

A decline in sentiment among property professionals has been recorded in most states and territories. Source: ANZ/Property Council

Housing markets are frequently sentiment-driven and when there’s little confidence in the market, they’re more likely to have lacklustre property price growth.

The latest ANZ/Property Council survey of property market professionals found expectations for prices growth and confidence within the industry dropped ahead of the federal election, with the gloom centred on the residential sector.

The only states bucking the confidence decline trend were South Australia, with a steady rise in confidence, and Victoria, with stable confidence.

Expectations for price rises were neutral in the survey conducted in June, with the number of respondents expecting rises over the coming year only marginally more than those expecting falls.

In 2015, optimists made up 40 per cent more of the survey than pessimists.

Oversupply is around the corner

Australia is expected to be oversupplied in 2017 after years of record building in many cities. Source: BIS Shrapnel

The country’s record breaking building boom is likely to catch up with most capital cities by 2017. Research house BIS Shrapnel forecasts an extra 24,039 homes above what are needed, leaving the country oversupplied for the first time in more than a decade.

Victoria will have 21,881 too many dwellings in 2017, while NSW will be the only state where an undersupply is expected to remain, with a shortage of 41,031 homes. And that’s still an improvement on the current NSW shortage of 53,386 homes.

Rents are starting to ease

In most capital cities, rents are on their way backwards. Over the three months to June 2016, asking rents declined in most capital cities.

For apartments, the only cities that didn’t fit this trend were Canberra and Sydney, which saw increases of 1.3 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. But for house rents, Canberra was the only city where growth was recorded over the three months to June.

Given supply is expected to continue to come online in most capital cities, rental declines may continue.

Currently, despite the easing conditions the underlying demand for rentals remains ahead of supply in most cities, Domain Group chief economist Andrew Wilson said.

“The resource capitals of Perth and Darwin are the clear exceptions, with the continuing downturn in the mining economy slackening demand and causing rents to fall,” Dr Wilson said.

Property prices are already softening

The latest official data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, for the March quarter, found property prices were already slipping in many capital cities. Across all the cities, the average residential dwelling price dropped 0.2 per cent. Falls were also seen in the December quarter.

While more recent indicators have suggested a surprising revival in some capital cities, such as Sydney, the growth that has been recorded is far below the levels seen in the frenzy of 2015.

In releasing the June data, CoreLogic RP Data senior research analyst Cameron Kusher said much of the growth over the quarter in Melbourne and Sydney was from April and May activity, but “we’re well below the peak of July last year”.

Fewer people think it’s time to buy

Fewer people think now is a good time to buy a dwelling, but there are mixed signals from the housing market. Source: Westpac-Melbourne Institute

The Westpac-Melbourne Institute’s Survey of Consumer Sentiment report records how people feel about whether it’s a good time to purchase a home.

Its Time to Buy a Dwelling Index found a drop in those believing it was a good time to purchase property, down 1.8 per cent in July following a 2.7 per cent drop in June. But the index does remain 7.4 per cent higher than it was in July 2015.

Signals in the housing market were described as “mixed” by Westpac chief economist Bill Evans, with consumers simultaneously regaining confidence in the outlook for prices.

“This [Time to Buy a Dwelling] Index has been markedly weaker since the middle of last year although there has been no sign of further deterioration in 2016,” Mr Evans said.

With AAP