Australian Property

In the ongoing and eternal debate surrounding the right level of migration into Australia, there are often claims that the current level of migration into Australia is “normal” and that on these grounds criticism of the size of the intake should be dismissed.

Melbourne dwelling values have experienced zero growth over the past five years and have declined significantly this calendar year.

In the years since the pandemic first arrived on Australia’s shores, there has been an often forgotten factor boosting the fortunes of the housing market: far less stock on the market for sale.

Cotality’s daily dwelling values index continues to fall across all major Australian capital cities. Over the past month, values have fallen by 1% at the 5-city aggregate level, with Sydney (-1.5%) and Melbourne (-1.2%) leading the decline and smaller falls recorded across the other major capitals.

New data compiled by The Guardian Australia from Housing Australia shows that 50,633 guarantees were issued in the first nine months after the Albanese government expanded the 5% deposit scheme on 1 October 2025.

Over the past week, the Australian media has been full of articles about the sharp decline in home values, with one commentator noting that Labor’s budget has triggered a housing slump that has wiped $230 billion from property values.

The National Housing Accord’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years, or 240,000 annually, is falling way behind, with only 307,635 dwellings completed over the first 21 months of the Accord, 112,365 (27%) fewer than the run rate required to meet the target.

When Tanya Plibersek was Australia’s housing minister under the Rudd government, Labor relaxed FIRB rules for foreign buyers, including: Allowing temporary residents to buy established dwellings without prior FIRB approval Raising monetary thresholds for screening Plibersek argued at the time that these changes were justified to support housing demand during the GFC.

Cotality’s daily dwelling values index has declined by 2.9% from its peak at the 5-city aggregate level, with all major capitals recording falls.

So say the SOI.

Cotality has revised its dwelling value data for Perth downward, resulting in the city recording a meaningful decline.

Economist Chris Richardson is one of the nation’s best analysts on budget finances.

Cotality’s rental data for July confirmed that the market remains extremely tight.

With Australia’s housing market now in full correction mode, and values declining across all major capital city markets, vendors have responded by withdrawing their homes from the auction market.

The latest dwelling completions data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that only 173,400 homes were built in the year to March 2026, 66,600 (28%) fewer than the 240,000 annual run rate required to meet the National Housing Accord’s target of building 1.2 million homes over five years.

Cotality’s daily dwelling values index shows that values at the 5-city aggregate level declined by 0.9% in July, with losses recorded across all major capital cities except for Perth. Sydney (-1.4%) and Melbourne (-1.2%) once again led the declines.

Maiy Azize, Deputy Director of Anglicare Australia, has posted a strawman article at The Point (The Australia Institute’s new propaganda outlet), arguing that it is “wrong” to blame migrants for the nation’s housing crisis.

July has seen Sydney’s house price downturn steepen, with Cotality reporting a 0.5% decline in values over the past seven days.

Australia’s dwelling construction is already running well behind the Albanese government’s 1.2 million five-year target, as set out in the National Housing Accord.

Australia’s Productivity Commission (PC) is calling for the most sweeping overhaul of housing rules in decades — pushing for three‑storey housing almost everywhere, major reductions in planning restrictions, and faster approvals — arguing that regulatory barriers are a core driver of the housing shortage and worsening affordability.

The massive rise in state debt has placed Victoria in a precarious financial position.

With the nation’s auction market in the doldrums and clearance rates tracking below 50% for two consecutive months, leading Sydney auctioneer Tom Panos gave his most pessimistic assessment yet, claiming Saturday’s auctions in Sydney were the worst in his career, which has spanned 30 years.

Leading into this weekend, the national final auction clearance rate had been stuck below 50% for eight consecutive weeks – the worst auction conditions since the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.