‘Vast majority’ of capital cities record property price plunge

Australia’s housing price decline spread across the country during the winter, with every capital city except Darwin recording a decrease in the past three months.

Data from Cotality showed the national home value index dropping 0.9 per cent in August, to end at 3.6 per cent below the peak in March.

Cotality research director Tim Lawless said the numbers showed the price downturn wasn’t just restricted to high-end suburbs.

“What started as a more concentrated easing across higher-value segments has now become a much more generalised softening, with the vast majority of capital city suburbs recording some level of decline,” he said.

Capital city figures showed how much the downturn had spread, with 93 per cent of capital suburbs recording a fall in prices, compared to 45.8 per cent in autumn.

Sydney recorded the biggest price drop, with home values down 1.4 per cent in August to be 7.1 per cent below the peak recorded in February.

“The combination of a sharp drop in demand and higher than average advertised stock levels is weighing more heavily on Australia’s largest housing market,” Lawless said.

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Melbourne, Canberra (both down 1.1 per cent), and Brisbane ( down 1 per cent) were the only other capitals to record a decline of one per cent or more inhome values during August.

Still, Cotality’s figures showed the other mid-sized capitals weren’t far behind, with Adelaide and Perth home values dropping 0.8 per cent for the month.

Although the downturn has broadened, higher-priced housing continued to record the larger declines.

“The narrowing performance gap between the upper and lower quartiles is another sign this downturn is broadening,” Lawless said.

“Premium markets are still generally recording weaker conditions, but lower-priced housing is becoming less insulated as affordability pressures and softer demand weigh more evenly across the market.“

Outside the capitals, regional areas recorded a 1.2 per cent decline in prices during the winter, including an 0.4 per cent shrinkage in August.

South Australia was the only state to avoid a winter downturn in regional areas.

Shrinking demand is the main driver of the falling prices, with Cotality’s quarterly estimate showing home sales were down 15.5 per cent on the same period last year, and 11.5 per cent below the five-year average.

Brisbane, Perth, and Sydney recorded the biggest drops in sales, down more than 20 per cent on a year ago.

Homes are still entering the market - if at a slower rate - with listings piling up across the country.

During August, capital city listings were 24 per cent higher than last year, and 8 per cent above the five-year average.

That’s despite new listings tracking 6 per cent lower than 2025 and 8 per cent down on the five-year average for August.

“Longer selling times, larger vendor discounting and persistently low auction clearance rates all point to a buyer’s market, yet buyers are lacking the confidence to transact at the moment,” Lawless said.