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Australian home values have dropped 5.2% nationally from their March peak, with Brisbane falling faster than Sydney and every suburb in Brisbane recording lower prices since June.
Australian home values have fallen 5.2% nationally from their peak in March to where they were a year ago, Cotality data released on Thursday shows.
The downturn has now extended to six months, with prices dropping in almost every suburb of the country's biggest cities. Brisbane is now falling faster than Sydney. Brisbane home prices dropped 1.5% in September, and every suburb in the city recorded lower prices compared with June. The median Brisbane home was worth $1.05 million, down by $59,000 since May, after prices had surged 18% over the preceding 12 months.
Sydney and Melbourne Housing Price Declines
Sydney median values dropped 1.4% in the month and were down 8.6% from their record high in March, the equivalent of a $112,000 fall. Just four Sydney suburbs held steady in recent months. Melbourne prices were down 7.2%, or $63,000, from November 2025. The national slump follows a 1.1% drop in September, according to Corelogic's Home Value Index.
All capital cities except Darwin saw price drops, with Sydney's decline steeper than the previous downturn and Melbourne's showing a milder fall despite a 7.2% peak-to-current drop. Joe Trucchio, a buyer's agent at Property Home Base, said the downturn had swept Melbourne. We're fully into the spring buying carnival, and we haven't seen it pick up the way that it had in previous years, Trucchio said.
It just takes some time and it takes some good news and right now we've had a sequence of bad news. Interest rates have become the biggest conversation among hesitant buyers, Trucchio said. Comparison website Canstar has estimated this year's four hikes have cut $47,400 from the borrowing capacity of someone earning an average annual full-time wage of $108,650.
Government Schemes And Interest Rate Impacts
Housing prices would have to fall roughly 10% to offset a 1 percentage point increase in interest rates, and no suburbs have reached that threshold. The Albanese government on Thursday reported over 102,000 people had been supported with first home loans under the 5% deposit scheme in the year since it was expanded.
The scheme has supported over 8,400 new first home buyers a month since June on average, relatively stable compared with the 8,600 a month average from October to May. RBA governor Michele Bullock said on Tuesday the central bank considered leaving rates on hold amid an unexpectedly weak housing market but ultimately decided to lift. She said falling prices would probably worsen housing supply by making new construction unprofitable.
The downturn is attributed to interest rate hikes, tax changes affecting investors, and weak consumer sentiment, leading to lower sales volumes and potential impacts on stamp duty revenues. Economists expect Australia's shortage of housing will force home prices back up in future, though the receding chance of interest rate cuts has made a longer downturn more likely. AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the Cotality data supported forecasts of prices falling at least 10% nationally.
Rate hikes, tax hikes and poor confidence are the big drags but rising distressed listings with rate hikes and rising unemployment do risk a deeper fall of around 15%, Oliver said.
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GuardianAus:Brisbane and Sydney hit hardest by falling house prices as 5.2% shaved from Australian property valuesThis story was compiled and edited by the HeadTopics newsroom and HT AI from the reports above.
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