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…
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, double-digit declines in home values would make little dent in…
The Australian housing downturn has stopped being a two-city story. Cotality’s Home Value Index recorded a 0.7% national decline in July 2026 — the largest monthly fall since December 2022 — and for the first time in this cycle, the weakness has reached almost every corner of the country. Brisbane fell 0.6%. Adelaide slipped 0.2%….
Capital city auction markets have produced mixed results over the past week but listings remain generally subdued. Weekly Auction Results to Saturday, August 15th 2026 Capital City This Week Last Week Same Week Last Year Auctions Rate Auctions Rate Auctions Rate Sydney 561 58.5% 520 54.4% 837 80.1% Melbourne 570 59.2% 627 64.2% 873 74.8%…
Are you wondering where property prices are headed and how long we will remain in the doldrums? Every property cycle eventually poses the same question to investors: is this a genuine crash, a soft landing, or something in between? Right now, with national prices falling and confidence at near record lows, those questions are louder…
