Over the past week, all four of Australia’s biggest banks have reported falls of between 12% to 20% in new home loan applications since the May federal budget. After announcing it would keep interest rates on hold, the Reserve Bank confirmed demand for new home loans has “declined noticeably”. For anyone currently in the market…
![Perth housing market update [video] | August 2026](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Perth-city-270x200.jpeg)
Perth was the only major capital city to record a positive result in July, with home values rising 0.1% over the month. On paper, that makes it the last market standing. In practice, the number tells a considerably more complicated story — because the June figure it followed was revised down to a 0.5% fall,…
![Brisbane housing market update [video] | August 2026](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/brisbane-270x200.jpg)
Brisbane spent two years as the market everyone pointed to when they wanted to argue the Australian housing boom still had room to run. That argument no longer holds. Home values fell 0.6% in July 2026, and revised data now confirms this was the second consecutive month of decline, following a 0.1% fall in June….
Australia’s property markets have been given a temporary reprieve, with the Reserve Bank leaving the cash rate unchanged in August. However, borrowers and property investors should be careful about interpreting the decision as the end of the interest rate cycle. The RBA’s message was clear. Inflation remains too high, new global pressures are emerging, and…
We Australians are very good at finding fault with the cities in which we live. We complain about congestion, expensive housing, crowded trains, planning delays and infrastructure that often seems to arrive years after it is needed. Sure, many of those concerns are justified, but every so often an international comparison allows us to step…
![Sydney housing market update [video] | August 2026](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/sydney4-270x200.jpg)
Sydney has now been falling for six straight months, and July delivered the sharpest instalment yet. Home values dropped 1.4% over the month, extending a decline that has run continuously since the market peaked in January. The cumulative loss now stands at 5.3% — roughly $69,000 stripped from the median dwelling value in just over…
Australia’s property markets have entered a more challenging phase, and the latest figures confirm that the momentum of the past few years has shifted. Combined capital city dwelling values have fallen 1% over the past month, although they remain 3% higher than a year ago. However, those national figures hide a widening divide between our…
Higher interest rates and uncertainty over the Federal Government’s proposed property tax changes are clearly taking some heat out of Australia’s property market, with new mortgage lending falling sharply in the June quarter. According to the latest ABS lending indicator data the total value of new housing loans settled in the June quarter was $97.6…
![Melbourne housing market update [video] | August 2026](https://cdn.propertyupdate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/melbourne-1-270x200.jpg)
Melbourne has now recorded eight consecutive months of falling home values, and the July figure — a 1.2% decline — brings the total loss since the November 2025 cyclical peak to 5.1%. In dollar terms, that represents approximately $46,000 removed from the median dwelling value in eight months. But the more revealing number is a…
Six months ago the conversation about Australian property was all about resilience, about how our markets kept climbing despite thirteen rate rises and a cost of living squeeze that refused to ease. That conversation has changed. Australia’s property downturn gathered sharp momentum in July, with Cotality’s national Home Value Index (HVI) falling 0.7% – the…
