Key takeaways
Australia’s residential real estate total market value rose to $12.4 trillion in January.
National dwelling values rose 2.4% over the quarter and 9.4% annually, adding an estimated $78,699 to the median Australian dwelling value over the last 12 months.
Although the monthly pace of growth has slowed, a clear two-speed dynamic remains at play across the capital city housing markets. The mid-sized capitals are all recording monthly gains above 1.0% while the largest capitals have seen growth slow to just 0.1% to 0.2%.
Cotality estimates that around 556,650 sales have transacted over the 12 months to January, a 4.1% increase in the number of home sales nationally.
Median time on market was 29 days nationally, down from 34 days a year ago, with capital city homes selling fastest in Perth (nine days) and slowest in Canberra (42 days).
Discounting rates are holding close to record lows, but the trend has levelled. Capital city vendors are reducing their asking prices by a median of 2.9% to reach the contract price, while negotiation levels are more substantial with a median of 3.2% across Regional Australia.
With a softer-than-average flow of new listings to market, alongside higher levels of purchasing activity relative to a year ago, the volume of advertised stock remains well below average. Nationally, inventory levels were 17.8% lower than at the same time last year, ranging from a 36.9% drop in Perth to a 1.2% reduction in Regional South Australia.
The flow of new listings remains low across most of Australia. Across the capitals, only Melbourne (4.5%) and Canberra (7.2%) have seen the trend in new listings track higher than a year ago.
Nationally, rents lifted 5.4% over the 12 months to January. Six months ago, rents were rising at the annual pace of 3.4%.
Rents have increased across every broad region of Australia, ranging from a 10.1% jump in regional WA to a 2.8% increase in Canberra.
Want to know what's happening to the housing markets around Australia?
Well... this monthly collection of charts from Cotality (formerly CoreLogic) paints an interesting picture.
Australian rents have surged almost three times faster than wages over the past five years, pushing rental affordability to record lows and stretching household budgets across the country.
Cotality’s analysis shows national rents have jumped 43.9% over the five years to September 2025, compared with a 17.5% rise in wages over the same period.
Tim Lawless, Cotality research director, said the divergence between rents and wages underlined just how challenging conditions have become for tenants.
“For many households, that means a lot less flexibility in the budget, and far fewer options about where and how they live,” Mr Lawless said.
The widening gap marks a sharp reversal of the previous five‑year period, when wages were generally growing faster than rents across most states and territories.
He further explains:
“Before the pandemic, renters in many parts of Australia were seeing wages grow a little ahead of rents, or at least keep pace.
Since 2020, a combination of tight vacancy rates, smaller household sizes and sluggish new housing supply has pushed the market into a very different phase, one where rents are clearly in the driver’s seat.
Since then, tight rental markets, low vacancy rates and limited new supply have combined to push rents sharply higher while incomes have struggled to keep up.”
Residential real estate underpins Australia's wealth
- The total value of Australian residential real estate was $12.4 trillion at the end of January 2026.
- Outstanding mortgages against all residential housing are only $2.5 trillion - a very comfortable 20% Loan to Value ratio.
- 55.4% of total Aussie household wealth is held in residential property - one of the many reasons neither the banks, the government nor the RBA wants a property crash.
Australian dwelling values
- This was the smallest rolling quarterly change in national home values since the three months ending August 2025, highlighting a slowdown in the pace of capital gains.
- The annual growth trend accelerated to 9.4% in January, the fastest 12-month pace of growth since March 2024.
- Every capital and rest of state region recorded an annual rise in values, ranging from 19.7 in Darwin to 5.4% in Melbourne.
- However, as a property investor, you can always outperform the average.
Our capital city markets are fragmented
Our housing markets are fragmented, with each state performing differently depending on local economic and market factors.
The following chart shows how various price segments of each capital city market are performing differently.
Each State is running its own race
One star performer was Brisbane, where property values increased 15.7% over the last year and are currently at a record high.
- Perth property values are up 18.5% over the year and are currently at a new record high.
- Sydney property values increased 6.4% over the past year but are still -0.1% below their record high in November 2025.
- Melbourne property values are up 0.1% in January, rose 5.4% over the year, but are still -0.7% below the record high seen in March 2022.
- In the previous darling of the housing markets, Hobart, house prices are -5.1 % below their record highs recorded in March 2022.
Here's how the Adelaide property market performed.
- Dwelling values in Canberra increased 5.5% over the last year.
- The Darwin housing market has performed strongly, increasing 19.7% over the year and is currently at a new record high.
Here's how many properties are for sale at the moment
- Vendors remain less active than usual, and following the recent interest rate rise, may step back a bit further.
- Although the seasonal rise in new listings was in full swing through the second half of January, freshly advertised listings were tracking about 5% down on a year ago and 9.2% below the Five-year average for this time of year.
- The problem is that very few are A Grade homes or investment grade properties. Owners of quality properties are holding onto them.
- With a softer than average flow of new listings to market, alongside higher levels of purchasing activity relative to a year ago, the volume of advertised stock remains well below average.
- Nationally, inventory levels were 17.8% lower than at the same time last year, ranging from a 36.9% drop in Perth to a 1.2% reduction in Regional South Australia.
Transaction volumes
- Monthly home sales tend to show extreme seasonality in December and January, however the annual trend shows a 4.1% increase in the number of home sales nationally.
- The rise was mostly driven by regional parts of the country, where the estimated volume of home sales was 7.0% higher in 2025, compared with a 2.5% rise in volume across the combined capitals.
It's taking longer to sell a home.
- The median number of days on market has shown a subtle rise over recent months, at least partially due to seasonal factors.
- Comparing with a year ago, homes are selling faster.
- Capital city homes sold with a median of just 26 days, five days faster than at the same time last year.
Vendor Discounting
- Discounting rates are holding close to record lows, but the trend has levelled.
- Capital city vendors are reducing their asking prices by a median of 2.9% to reach the contract price, while negotiation levels are more substantial with a median of 3.2% across Regional Australia.
Auction clearance rates
- Auction clearance rates peaked in late September 2025 at 72%, trending lower since that time to be below the decade average of 64% by mid-November.
- Although it's early in the 2026 auction season, the clearance rate bounced back to 66.4% over the week ending February 1st, suggesting vendors may be more willing to meet the market as interest rates rise and sentiment softens.
- We update the weekly auction clearance results here each week.
We're still experiencing a rental market crisis in Australia.
- The annual change in rents has been reaccelerating since mid-2025, with the national rental index up 5.4% over the 12 months to January.
- Six months ago, rents were rising at the annual pace of 3.4%.
- The rental vacancy rate has eased off slightly since the record lows of 1.5% in September last year, rising to 1.7% in January.
- Gross rental yields haven’t been this low since September 2022, a factor of housing values rising at a faster pace than rents.
- Although yields are holding well below the long run average, it hasn’t been a deterrent to investor demand.
- Investor lending comprised 41% of total lending by volume in the September quarter, well above the decade average of 33%.
Dwelling approvals and housing credit
- Dwelling approvals were 14.9% lower in the month of December, the result of a volatile trend across the unit sector.
- House approvals ticked 0.3% higher over the month, while the number of units approved fell by 31.6%, reversing a 32% rise in unit approvals in November.
- Over the year, there were almost 196,000 dwellings approved, a 12.8% rise on the year prior, taking approvals roughly in line with the decade average, but still well below levels required to reach Housing Accord targets.
Finance and Lending
- Both the volume and value of new home loan commitments rose sharply over the September quarter, up 6.4% and 9.6% respectively compared to Q2.
- The rise saw the total value of new financing reach its highest level on record with $98 billion in residential mortgage commitments over the quarter.
- Investor activity drove the increases in both volume and value, up 13.6% and 17.6% respectively, while new owner occupier lending saw a smaller 2.0% lift in volume and 4.7% rise in value.
- First home buyers also recorded a rise in both the volume (+2.3%) and value (1.1%) of new financing over the quarter, albeit much milder relative to investors and subsequent owner occupiers.
- This saw first home buyers, as a share of new owner-occupier lending, trend lower to 28.3%.
- First home buyer lending will likely lift through Q4, with the expansion of the 5% Deposit Scheme, introduced on October 1st , expected to deliver a temporary boost for first home buyer demand.
Source of charts: Cotality Monthly Housing Chart Pack, February 2026
- Also read:This week’s Australian Property Market Update – Latest Data, State by State February 17th 2026
- Also read:Melbourne property market forecast for 2026 | Is it a good time to invest in Melbourne?
- Also read:Latest Property Price Forecasts Revealed. Australian Property Market Outlook 2026: Where To Now After The Rate Rise.
- Also read:Brisbane Property Market Forecast [2026] – What’s Ahead & Where to Invest
- Also read:Sydney property market forecast for 2026. Is it a good time to invest in Sydney?
