Everything you need to know about the state of Australia’s property markets in 20 charts – March 2025

Want to know what's happening to the housing markets around Australia?

Well... this monthly collection of charts from CoreLogic paints an interesting picture.

High-end markets showed strong growth in February, pointing to renewed momentum within a 'bellwether' segment that has historically proven to be an early indicator of market recoveries.

CoreLogic's figures show that the upper quartile of capital cities, or the top 25% of home values, rose 0.2% in February, following a -0.3% fall in January.

The lower quartile still outperformed in comparison, rising 0.4% in February following a flat result in January.

CoreLogic Economist Kaytlin Ezzy said that while still lagging behind the lower quartile and middle market, the monthly change in capital cities' most expensive 25% of values has seen the sharpest turnaround in growth compared to last month.

She further said:

"The upper 25% of values in Melbourne, Sydney and Hobart recorded the largest improvements

The top quartile is the one to watch as they tend to be a bellwether for broader market recoveries in those cities.

If this momentum continues, the quarterly change in upper quartile values could turn positive and potentially outperform the lower quartile and middle market for the first time since August 2023."

• The total value of Australian residential real estate was $ 11.2 trillion at the end of February 2025
• Outstanding mortgages against all residential housing are only $2.4 trillion - a very comfortable 21% Loan to Value ratio.
• 55.9% 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.

Home values improved

• The 0.3% monthly rise in national home values has seen the quarterly measure improve, from a -0.4% decline over the three months to January to a -0.1% dip over the three months to February.
• Despite the monthly uptick, the annual trend has continued to ease, with national values up just 3.8% over the year to February —the lowest annual rate since the 12 months to August 2023 (2.6%).
• The regions have continued to outperform the capitals, with values up 1.0% over the three months to February compared with the -0.4% decline seen across the capitals.
• However, our property markets are fragmented meaning while many segments are growing, some are languishing.
• And, of course, 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.

At the beginning of this property cycle the upper quartile of the market lead the upswing in 2023, but more recently the lower quartile across every capital city has recorded a stronger outcome for housing values relative to its upper quartile counterpart.

The following chart shows how various segments of each capital city market are performing differently with median-priced properties performing well.

Each State is running its own race

• On the one hand, Perth property values are up 14.3% over the year and are now at a record high.
• On the other hand, although Melbourne property values, are up only 0.4% over the last month, yet still fell -3.2% over the last year,  and are now -6.4% below the record high, which was in March 2022.

• And in the previous darling of the housing markets, Hobart, house prices are -11.9 % below their record highs recorded in March 2022.

Another star performer was Brisbane where property values increased 9.7% over the last year and are currently at a record high.

Sydney property values underperformed over the past year (+1.1%) and are now -1.6% below the record high which was September 2024.

Here's how the Adelaide property market performed.

The Canberra housing market languished last year

Similarly, the Darwin housing market underperformed in the last year.

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

• Although trending higher through the last summer months, the national flow of freshly advertised properties has
  continued to hold below the levels typically seen this time of year.
• At 41,416, the count of new listings over the four weeks to March 2nd was -2.9% below the number seen this time last year and -3.1% below the previous 5-year average.
• The problem is that very few are A Grade homes or investment grade properties. Owners of quality properties are holding onto them.
• Total listings levels have continued to trend higher through February, with 143,081 for-sale listings observed nationally over the four weeks to March 2nd.
• Compared to last year, total listing levels are up 2.0% but remain -10.5% below the previous five-year average.

Transaction volumes

• CoreLogic estimates there were 40,085 sales nationwide in February, taking the rolling 12-month count to 532,244.
• While the annual measure is up 6.2% compared to last year, sales activity has slowed over the three months to February.
• Compared to last year, this summer’s sales estimates were down -6.6% and were -9.5% below the previous five-year
  average.

It's taking longer to sell a home

• Properties are taking longer to sell, with the national median time on the market rising from a recent low of 27 days in Q3 2024 to 42 days over the three months to February.
• Canberra (55 days) and Regional SA(46 days) were the only capital or rest of state regions to see a decline in selling times compared to last year, down 13 and 5 days, respectively.

Vendor Discounting

• Vendor discounting rates have continued to loosen over the summer, with the national rate expanding from 3.5% at the end of spring to 3.6%.
• Hobart was the only capital to see a tightening in its median discounting rate, from 3.6% to 3.5%, while the remaining capitals all saw vendors negotiate more in order to secure a sale.

The capital city auction market renewed its vigor

• After a slow start in January, the combined capitals auction market saw renewed vigour in February, with auction activity trending higher and clearance rates lifting towards long-run averages.
• Over the four weeks to March 2nd, capital city clearance rates averaged 63.7%, up from the 57.4% success rate average recorded over the four weeks to December 15th last year and just 90 basis points below the decade average of 64.6%.
• We update the weekly auction clearance results here each week.

We're still experiencing a rental market crisis in Australia

• The rolling 12-month change in national rental values has continued to slow, with rents up 4.1% over the year to February, down from an 8.3% increase seen over the year to March 2024.
• Despite a seasonal uptick in the quarterly measure (1.1%, up from -0.1% over Q3 2024), the annual trend will likely continue to lose momentum as increasing average household size and slowing net overseas migration put further downward pressure on rental demand.

• National gross rent yields remained steady for the 27th consecutive month at 3.7%.
• Compared to this time last year, yields across Brisbane(3.7%), Adelaide(3.7%), and Perth(4.3%) were up, while yields in Sydney (3.1%), Melbourne(3.7%), Hobart (4.4%) Darwin (6.7%) and Canberra (4.1%) were down.

Dwelling approvals and housing credit

• Monthly dwelling approvals rose 6.3% in January, led by a 12.8% increase in the more volatile unit segment, while the detached sector saw a more modest 1.6% lift in approvals.
• The recent upshoot in medium to high-density approvals has taken the monthly count above the decade average (+3.2%) for the first time since December 2022, while house approvals are currently -5.9% below the 10-year average.

Finance and Lending

• The total value of new loan commitments rose 1.4% in the December quarter to $87.2 billion.
• The increase was led by owner-occupiers, with first-home buyer commitments up 1.5% and subsequent owner-occupier loans up 3.5% over the quarter.
• Meanwhile, the quarterly value of investor lending fell -2.9% over Q4 but remained 22.2% above the levels seen
  this time last year.

• The value of first home buyer finance rose 1.5% over the December quarter of 2024 to $16 billion.
• As a portion of new owner-occupier lending, first home buyers comprised 29.2% in Q4, down from a recent peak of 31.3% in Q2 2024 but above the historic decade average of 26.8%.

Source of charts: CoreLogic Chart Pack, March 2025.

• Also read:Brisbane’s property market forecast for 2025
• Also read:Melbourne property market forecast for 2025
• Also read:Latest property price forecasts for 2025 revealed. What’s ahead in our housing markets in the next year or two?
• Also read:Sydney property market forecast for 2025
• Also read:This week’s Australian Property Market Update – Latest Data, State by State March 25th 2025