Key takeaways
Capital city home prices have continued to fall sharply over August with no sign yet of the usual pre-spring revival in activity.
The national capital city median house price fell by 1.8% over the August quarter to $1,226,833 compared to the July quarter, according to the latest data from My Housing Market.
National unit prices have also continued to decline over the August quarter compared to the July quarter, down by 1.1% to $706,226 – but have increased by 2.2% compared to the August quarter 2025 result.
Although still falling, the unit market continues to outperform the house price market.
Capital city home prices have continued to fall sharply over August with no sign yet of the usual pre-spring revival in activity.
The national capital city median house price fell by 1.8% over the August quarter to $1,226,833 compared to the July quarter, according to the latest data from My Housing Market.
The August result was the fourth consecutive decline in national house prices and lower again than the 1.5% reported over the previous month.
Annual national house prices are now higher by just 0.5% with annual house price growth down sharply this year since the March peak of 10.9%.
All capitals reported lower house price over the month with the exception of Darwin up 0.6%.
Perth prices fell 1.0%, Brisbane was down 1.4%, Hobart lower by 1.6%, Melbourne and Sydney each down by 2.1% with Canberra and Adelaide house prices each falling 2.3% over August.
Most capitals however continue to report sturdy annual house price growth with Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, Hobart and Adelaide the highest, up by 16.1%, 11.0%, 8.9%, 8.3% and 5.0% respectively.
Sydney and Melbourne house prices have now fallen by 5.1% and 5.0% respectively over the past year.
Quarterly Median House Prices August 2026
| Median | Month | This Year | 1 Year | 2 Year | |
| Sydney | $1,641,767 | -2.1% | -7.5% | -5.1% | 0.6% |
| Melbourne | $1,032,198 | -2.1% | -8.0% | -5.0% | -1.7% |
| Brisbane | $1,181,523 | -1.4% | 1.3% | 8.9% | 20.8% |
| Adelaide | $1,080,809 | -2.3% | -1.7% | 5.0% | 12.5% |
| Perth | $1,183,014 | -1.0% | 5.7% | 16.1% | 27.4% |
| Hobart | $761,553 | -1.6% | 1.6% | 8.3% | 13.6% |
| Darwin | $787,095 | 0.6% | 3.5% | 11.0% | 28.7% |
| Canberra | $962,296 | -2.3% | -4.5% | -2.6% | 2.7% |
| National | $1,226,833 | -1.8% | -4.0% | 0.5% | 7.0% |
National unit prices were also lower
National unit prices have also continued to decline over the August quarter compared to the July quarter, down by 1.1% to $706,226 – but have increased by 2.2% compared to the August quarter 2025 result.
Although still falling, the unit market continues to outperform the house price market
Most capitals reported lower unit prices over the month with Darwin and Hobart the exceptions with increases of 0.2% and steady respectively.
Melbourne unit prices fell by 0.4%, Canberra was down 0.7%, Brisbane fell 1.1%, Adelaide was lower by 1.2%, Sydney fell 1.3% with Perth down 2.0% over the month.
Quarterly Median Unit Prices August 2026
| Median | Month | This Year | 1 Year | 2 Year | |
| Sydney | $789,180 | -1.3% | -2.5% | -1.3% | 1.8% |
| Melbourne | $579,580 | -0.4% | -3.1% | 0.1% | 2.3% |
| Brisbane | $748,886 | -1.1% | 5.4% | 17.1% | 36.0% |
| Adelaide | $627,829 | -1.2% | -0.3% | 7.2% | 20.2% |
| Perth | $651,094 | -2.0% | 5.0% | 14.9% | 31.9% |
| Hobart | $591,081 | 0.0% | 10.2% | 13.2% | 13.1% |
| Darwin | $470,713 | 0.2% | 9.6% | 25.8% | 30.0% |
| Canberra | $498,180 | -0.7% | -1.9% | -3.5% | -0.4% |
| National | $706,226 | -1.1% | -1.1% | 2.2% | 7.2% |
Similar to houses, Darwin, Brisbane, Perth, Hobart and Adelaide continue to record the highest annual unit price growth to July 2026, up by 25.8%, 17.1%, 14.9%, 13.2% and 7.2% respectively.
Comment
Capital city housing markets have continued to decline sharply over August with weakening home price growth again compared to the previous month.
Reduced buyer and seller activity over recent months predictably reflects the impact on affordability and confidence of consecutive official interest rate increases in February, March and May, increased uncertainty over the economic outlook and significant changes to federal property taxes that have also impacted market activity.
The outlook for home prices through 2026 remains increasingly problematic particularly with stubbornly high inflation increasing the prospect of a near-term interest rate rise although the recent spike in oil prices is yet again easing.
The economy however remains robust although the national jobless rate has increased recently with jobs growth falling and unemployed numbers rising.
Housing demand continues to outpace low and diminishing housing supply and although high post-COVID migration levels have clearly eased recently, numbers remain solid and will add to chronic housing undersupply supporting high rents and low vacancy rates generally in capital city rental markets.
Following a period of easing rental growth, the latest data continues to report extraordinarily low home rental vacancy rates with now clearly generally rising rents.
Recently announced federal government changes to property taxes designed to reduce investor activity will likely place further upward pressure on rents.
Capital city housing markets generally recorded higher house and unit prices over 2023, 2024 and surged over 2025 fuelled by rising buyer and seller confidence through sharp cuts to interest rates.
2026 is now clearly and consistently reporting lower home price outcomes compared to the previous three years with uncertainty remaining over the near-term future for interest rates.
The prospect of higher interest rates has continued to generally dampen buyer and seller confidence particularly over the typically distracted and quieter winter period.
Although buyer and seller uncertainty has dampened the usual late winter, pre-spring revival in housing market activity; underlying drivers generally nonetheless remain relatively positive notwithstanding growing uncertainty over the near-term trajectory of interest rates.
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