Australian property market

The Australian property market comprises the trade of land and its permanent fixtures located within Australia. The average Australian property price grew 0.5% per year from 1890 to 1990 after inflation, however rose from 1990 to 2017 at a faster rate. House prices in Australia receive considerable attention from the media and the Reserve Bank and some commentators have argued that there is an Australian property bubble.

The residential housing market has seen drastic changes in prices in the past few decades. The property prices are soaring in major cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane and Hobart. The median house price in Sydney peaked at $780,000 in 2016. However, with stricter credit policy and reduced interest from foreign investors in residential property, prices have started falling in all the major cities. When compared with the soaring prices of 2017, the housing prices fell by 11.1% in Sydney and 7.2% in Melbourne in 2018. In 2022 the residential rental market has seen a significant increase in rents, which has been described as a 'rental crisis'.

In 2025, national home values pushed to fresh highs. As at August 2025, values rose 0.7% for the month and 4.1% year-on-year, with Brisbane (+1.2%), Perth (+1.1%) and Darwin (+1.0%) leading monthly gains, while Hobart declined (–0.6%). Sydney’s median dwelling value is about $1.224 million and back at peak. Rents increased 0.5% in August and the vacancy rate remained near 1.5%, keeping pressure on tenants; auction clearance rates tracked around 70% ahead of spring. Investor gross yields sat near 3.7% nationally (about 4.4% across regionals). However, governments tightened short-stay rules; Victoria introduced a 7.5% levy on stays under 28 days (from 1 January), NSW reinforced its STRA registration/day-cap framework, and Byron Shire proceeded with a 60-day non-hosted cap.