Everything you need to know about the state of Australia’s property markets in 20 charts – October2026

There is no doubt that our housing markets are facing challenges from all directions, but clearly they have remained more resilient than the property pessimists had predicted.

To better understand what's happening, this monthly collection of charts from Cotality paints an interesting picture.

According to Cotality, Australia's spring property market has failed to gain its usual momentum, with home sales down more than 20% compared with the same period last year, properties taking longer to sell and capital city vendors accepting their largest discounts in five years.

Cotality's October Housing Chart Pack shows an estimated 39,747 homes sold nationally in September, down 20.9% on the same month last year, while the median time to sell a property increased to 41 days, compared with 26 days a year earlier.

Despite the start of the traditionally busy spring selling season, new property listings were 7.9% lower than a year ago and almost 12% below the five-year average.

Yet total advertised stock increased 19.1%, indicating that homes are accumulating on the market faster than buyers are purchasing them.

Cotality Research Director Tim Lawless said the weak start to spring reflected more than the usual seasonal interruptions, with dwelling values in every capital city now below their previous peak.

“School holidays and football finals can disrupt the market during September, but they don't explain the extent of the slowdown we're seeing in sales activity or why homes are taking so much longer to sell,” Mr Lawless said.

“The bigger issue is that buyers are finding it harder to commit. Higher interest rates have reduced borrowing capacity, household budgets are under pressure and confidence is weak. Even people who are in a position to buy may be reluctant to make a decision while values are falling.”

“Spring normally brings more activity, but we're seeing fewer new listings and a growing number of properties sitting on the market. That's not an encouraging combination for sellers.”

Residential real estate underpins Australia's wealth

• The total value of Australian residential real estate was $12.1 trillion at the end of September 2026.
• Outstanding mortgages against all residential housing are only $2.6 trillion - a very comfortable 22% Loan to Value ratio.
• 55.8% 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

• The rolling quarterly trend for national dwelling values was down 3.7% over the three months to September.
• National home values were unchanged over the 12 months to September.
• Even the lower-priced quarter of Sydney housing is worth more than the median dwelling in Melbourne, Hobart, Darwin and the ACT.
• 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 different price segments in each capital city market are performing.

Each State is running its own race

Brisbane property values are now -5.4% below the record high seen in May 2026.

• Perth property values are also down -6% from the record high seen in April 2026.

• Sydney property values are now -8.6% below the record high seen in February 2026.

• Melbourne property values decreased -0.7% for September, also decreased -6.2% over the year, and are now -7.5% below the record high seen in March 2022.

• Hobart house prices are -2 % below their record highs recorded in March 2022.

Here's how the Adelaide property market performed.

•  Dwelling values in Canberra are down by -1.6% over the last year, and are also currently down - 6.2% below their record high seen in May 2022.

• The Darwin housing market has performed strongly, increasing 11.9% over the year but -0.2% below its record high in July 2026

Here's how many properties are for sale at the moment

• The spring listing season has started slowly.
• Over the four weeks ending 11 October 2026, 36,440 new listings came to market, 7.9% fewer than a year earlier and 11.9% below the previous five-year average.
• New listings remained close to the five-year average from February to May but have been below it since June and rose only slightly through September, when volumes typically increase.
• The problem is that very few are A Grade homes or investment grade properties. Owners of quality properties are holding onto them.
• Over the four weeks ending 11 October, total listings reached 145,573, a 19.1% increase on the same period last year
  and 2.7% above the previous five-year average.
• This is a considerable shift from the start of the year, when advertised stock was well below both 2025 levels and the five-year average.

Transaction volumes

• According to Cotality, 39,747 homes were sold nationally in September 2026, 20.9% fewer than in September 2025.
• Monthly sales have now been lower than a year earlier for nine consecutive months.
• On an annual basis, most of the decline has come from the capital cities, where sales volumes fell 9.1% over the year, compared with a 1.6% fall in regional areas.
• Among the capitals, Perth (-18.8%) and Brisbane (-12.6%) recorded the largest annual falls, while Canberra (8.0%)
  and Hobart (3.2%) were the only capitals to record increases.

Homes are taking noticeably longer to sell

• Homes are taking noticeably longer to sell, with the national median time on market extending to 41 days over the three months to September 2026, up from 26 days a year earlier.
• The slowdown has been sharpest across the combined capitals, where the median of 39 days is the longest in the five-year series.
• Canberra is the slowest-selling capital at 50 days. Perth is the fastest-selling capital at 26 days, though its selling time has more than doubled over the year.
• Regional markets have also softened, with selling times lengthening to 43 days from 32, just short of the February 2024 high.

Vendor Discounting

• Vendors are offering larger discounts as selling conditions soften, with the median vendor discount across the combined capitals widening to 4.4% over the three months to September 2026, the largest in the five-year series.
• Since June, capital city discounts have exceeded those in regional areas, reversing a pattern that had held from late 2022.
• The regional median discount also widened, reaching 3.9%, its widest since January 2024, while the national figure rose to 4.2% from 3.2% a year earlier.

Auction clearance rates

• The four-week average clearance rate across the combined capitals was 48.3% at the start of October, well below the 64.4% clearance rate in late February.
• The clearance rate fell to a low of 45.4% in early July and has since held close to 50%.
• Weekly results remain soft, with a clearance rate of 45.4% across 1,212 auctions recorded last week.
• With clearance rates remaining subdued and listings elevated, more vendors appear to be favouring private treaty sales over auctions.
• We update the weekly auction clearance results here each week.

We're still experiencing a rental market crisis in Australia.

• The annual increase in national rental rates eased to 5.5% in September 2026, down from 5.9% between May and July.
• The deceleration is sharper on a three-month basis, with rental rates rising 0.5% in the September quarter, compared with 1.6% in the June quarter and 0.9% a year earlier.
• This was the smallest quarterly increase since the December quarter of 2024.

• The national gross rental yield rose to 3.85%, its highest level since August 2019, with yields holding between 3.6% and 3.7% from late 2022 to late 2025 before easing to 3.5%.
• The recent rise is associated with falling home values, which have declined for six consecutive months, alongside rental rates that are still rising, up 5.5% over the year.
• Regional areas have higher returns than the combined capitals, at 4.3% compared with 3.7%.
• Rental yields were highest in regional Northern Territory (8.0%) while Sydney (3.4%) offered the lowest gross rental returns among the capital cities.

Dwelling approvals and housing credit

• Dwelling approvals fell 6.1% to 16,953 in August, as a drop in unit approvals outweighed a rise in houses.
• House approvals rose 3.3% to 11,041, the highest monthly result since August 2021 and 12.3% above the decade average.
• Unit approvals declined 19.7% to 5,912, which is 10.8% below their decade average.
• Year to date, growth has come mainly from houses.
• Across the first eight months of 2026, house approvals were 12.4% higher than the same period in 2025, compared with a 2.6% rise for units.

Finance and Lending

• The value of housing finance commitments (excluding refi) amounted to over $60 billion for owner occupiers and over $37 billion for investors during the June 2026 quarter, though both segments declined from their recent peaks.
• Most states are now recording an easing in the value of lending, with Tasmania the exception, where home lending has continued to trend higher.
• Home lending to investors fell sharply in the June quarter, down 10.2%.

• First home buyer lending reached $18.4 billion over the June quarter (30.4% of owner occupier lending).
• The NT, which is
  also the most affordable housing market, had the highest share (37.2%) of first home buyer lending, while NSW (27.0%) and Queensland (27.0%) were the lowest with Queensland below its ten-year average.

Source of charts: Cotality Monthly Housing Chart Pack, October 2026

• Also read:This week’s Australian Property Market Update – Latest Data, State by State October 20th 2026
• Also read:Latest Property Price Forecasts. Australian Property Market Outlook 2026-2027: Navigating a Market Correction
• Also read:Brisbane Property Market Forecast [2026 & Beyond] – What The Olympics Decade Means for Investors.
• Also read:Melbourne property market forecast for 2026 & 2027 | Separating the fundamentals from the sentiment
• Also read:Sydney property market forecast for 2026 and 2027 | Why the short-term softness is a long-term opportunity