The nationwide slump in house values has spread to Brisbane and Perth with no signs the property downturn is close to ending, amid fears it could get worse if the Reserve Bank pushes ahead with another interest rate hike this week.
uncertain
Bank → spread → hike
Figures released today by Cotality show the nation’s property values fell another 1.2 per cent in October, the seventh consecutive monthly drop, to be down 6.7 per cent since March.
asserted
values → release → March
In dollar terms, median property values have slumped by $63,400 or more than $9000 a month.
asserted
values → slump → 63,400
Sydney’s median house price fell another 1.9 per cent through the month to be down by 11.1 per cent since the start of the year.
asserted
price → fall → year
The median unit price dropped by 0.7 per cent to be down by 6.5 per cent.
asserted
price → drop → cent
Melbourne’s median house price edged down by 1 per cent to $906,000.
asserted
price → edge → 906,000
It has fallen by 9 per cent so far this year.
asserted
It → fall → cent
The city’s median unit price slipped by 0.3 per cent in October and is down by 4.7 per since the start of 2026.
asserted
price → slip → 2026
But bigger falls are now being recorded across the country in cities which have had the largest increase in values over recent years.
asserted
which → record → years
Brisbane’s median house value fell by 2 per cent last month and is now the weakest market in the country with values down by 6.2 per cent over the past three months.
asserted
values → fall → months
Perth’s median house value fell by 1.7 per cent in October, it slipped by 1.2 per cent in Adelaide while it eased 1 per cent in Canberra.
asserted
it → fall → Canberra
Sydney’s median, though the highest in the country at $1.6 million, had already been falling for two months, while the other capitals in the $1 million club were Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and Adelaide.
asserted
capitals → fall → club
Cotality research manager Tim Lawless said it was clear the downturn in the property market had stretched across the country.
asserted
downturn → say → country
“Virtually every suburb across Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide has recorded a drop in values over the past three months,” he said.
asserted
he → record → months
Two markets defied last month’s fall.
asserted
markets → defy → fall
House values lifted by 0.6 per cent in both Hobart, where the median price is almost $797,000, and in Darwin, where it sits at $745,726.
asserted
it → lift → 745,726
Across every part of Sydney and Melbourne, values are falling.
asserted
values → fall → Sydney
In Melbourne, the smallest annual decline has been in the city centre, down by just 0.3 per cent, while values have eased by 0.7 per cent in the outer north-west around Sunbury.
asserted
values → ease → Sunbury
They include WA’s Goldfields region (up 23.8 per cent), the Darling Downs of Queensland (18.2 per cent), Dubbo in NSW (11.7 per cent) and Victoria’s Glenelg region (7.9 per cent).
asserted
They → include → NSW
The fall in housing prices is feeding into the rental market.
asserted
fall → feed → market
Cotality said the national vacancy rate rose to 2.3 per cent, just below its decade-long average of 2.4 per cent and the highest since January 2022, which was the month before the international border was fully re-opened.
asserted
border → say → January
Cotality also noted that the pace of rental increases is easing, with the 0.9 per cent lift in the past three months the smallest since January 2025.
asserted
lift → note → January
Lawless said demand-side factors such as those that had affected home values were at play in the rental market.
asserted
that → say → market
“Renters are likely to be approaching a ceiling on their capacity to pay more, following a 52 per cent surge in rents over the past six years, which added around $245 a week to the median rental rate nationally,” he said.
asserted
he → approach → rate
Treasurer Jim Chalmers recently told this masthead’s Inside Politics podcast that while the budget’s tax changes had contributed to the drop in property prices, they were not the only reason for the current downturn.
asserted
they → tell → downturn
“I think it would be dishonest to say that the tax changes are solely responsible, or that they’re not responsible at all,” he said.
asserted
he → think → ?
Lawless said higher interest rates, the run-up in prices over recent years, cost-of-living pressures and the government’s budget measures had all contributed to the slide in prices.
asserted
rates → say → prices
The pressure on the market is likely to intensify after Tuesday, with financial markets and economists expecting the Reserve Bank’s monetary policy board to deliver its fifth rate hike this year.
asserted
board → intensify → hike
AMP chief economist Shane Oliver, who expects the bank to take the cash rate to an 18-year high of 4.85 per cent, said households were suffering a double whammy from higher mortgage repayments and the surge in petrol prices.
asserted
households → expect → prices
He said a quarter percentage point hike on Tuesday would add about $110 to monthly repayments on an average mortgage, taking the increase so far this year to $550 a month or $6600 a year.
asserted
hike → say → 550
The lift in petrol prices had added almost $100 a month to monthly petrol bills.
asserted
lift → add → bills
“So around a $640-a-month extra impost since January for those with a mortgage and petrol car, which is quite a hit,” he said.
asserted
he → say → mortgage
Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.
asserted
Subscribers → sign → newsletter
The Aporia
