Australian Property

The one economic feature of Australia that has defined MB for fifteen years is a belief in the need for lower house prices.

One of the claimed intents of the Albanese government’s recent budget was the pursuit of so-called “intergenerational equity”, which, by adjusting the settings of the tax system, would help improve the fortunes of the nation’s young.

Australia consistently ranks near the top in the world for household wealth.

Australia’s governments have conducted dozens of housing affordability inquiries over the years, including the following compiled by Dr Cameron Murray at Fresh Economic Thinking: Organisations like the Grattan Institute, the McKell Institute, AHURI, and others have published similar reports.

To date, Australia’s house price correction has been confined to the nation’s largest capital city markets – Sydney and Melbourne – where values have fallen by 3.0% (Sydney) and 3.6% (Melbourne) in 2026, according to Cotality.

The costs of Australia’s rental crisis are often measured by the sharp decline in the rental vacancy rate, which is tracking at historical lows, alongside the strong rise in advertised rents.

I cannot remember a time outside the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic when Australia’s auction market was this weak.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, regional property values across Australia have experienced explosive growth.

Just when you thought the nation’s auction market couldn’t get worse, this week’s final auction results hit a fresh low of 42.3%, the lowest result since April 2020 (41.1%) during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Recent Australian state budgets have explicitly forecast a decline in stamp duty receipts for the same underlying reasons: higher interest rates, weaker housing turnover, and investor retreat following federal tax changes.

As part of the political horse-trading to pass legislation through the Senate, the Albanese government has agreed to a series of proposals from the Greens in exchange for support on the passage of its proposed changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax.

Australia’s housing market is experiencing a sharp investor retreat, collapsing auction activity, and weakening apartment demand.

According to Cotality’s daily dwelling values index, Sydney dwelling values are falling rapidly, down 1.1% over the past 28 days.

Amid widespread criticism of the federal budget’s changes to capital gains taxes (CGT), the Albanese government last week announced that businesses with turnover of up to $10 million will be eligible for a CGT discount of 50% on the sale of active assets, up from the current revenue threshold of $2 million.

The collapse in the nation’s auction market rolled on this weekend, with the combined capital city preliminary clearance rate plunging to just 47.4%, its lowest reading since April 2020 during the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the Australian housing market experiencing a price correction, driven by Sydney and Melbourne, the ABC has published an interesting report on the paralysis impacting buyers arising from the federal government’s changes to negative gearing and capital gains tax (CGT).

Australian tenants have experienced the sharpest increase in advertised rents in modern history.

Housing affordability in New Zealand is improving rapidly, unlike in Australia.

Excellent.

Thousands of rental properties have reportedly disappeared from the market following the Albanese government’s negative gearing and CGT reforms, with early data showing a sharp contraction in investor‑owned rental supply across major cities.

Australia’s housing market looks to be entering a major correction phase amid collapsing buyer demand.