The Housing Industry Association took a warm view of moderating property price growth reported yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.Data released yesterday "shows that the pace of growth in residential property prices across Australia's eight capital cities is slowing amid signs that momentum in transactions is waning," the HIA said."Residential property prices across Australia's eight capital cities in the March 2016 quarter were 6.8 per cent higher than 12 months previously," the HIA's economist, Diwa Hopkins, reported. "This pace of growth is slower than what occurred throughout 2015, when growth averaged 9.0 per cent."Hopkins said this deceleration was "largely being driven by developments in the Sydney residential property market, where annual price growth eased back into single-figure territory in March this year. "Sydney prices grew at an annual rate of 9.7 per cent, beating the national average, but are also the city's slowest pace of growth in almost three years." This observation was reflected in the response from Moody's Investors Service to the New South Wales budget. The ratings agency noted that the state's operating results for FY2016/17 and over the medium term showed a slight weakening compared to last year's forecast, and a slowdown in conveyancing related revenue was one factor highlighted. "Residential property-related conveyancing duties are set to rise at 4.7 per cent, on average, over the next four years, compared to double-digit increases in recent years," Moody's said. Moody's warned of "potential volatility in conveyancing duties" in the event of a housing slowdown.