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Brisbane property market update, November 2025
November was another strong month for Brisbane’s housing market, with momentum picking up from already solid October conditions.
Cotality’s Home Value Index shows Brisbane dwelling values rose 1.9% in November, taking quarterly growth to 5.5% and annual growth to 12.8%, with the median dwelling value now sitting just over $1.01 million. That means values have lifted a further 0.1 percentage points on October’s already-brisk 1.8% gain and almost three percentage points over the quarter.
Against the other capitals, Brisbane remains one of the frontrunners. Perth is still the standout, with values up 2.4% over the month and 7.4% over the quarter, while Adelaide matched Brisbane’s 1.9% monthly result but posted slightly softer quarterly gains. Sydney and Melbourne, by comparison, delivered more modest monthly rises of 0.5% and 0.3% and quarterly growth around 1.6 - 1.8%, highlighting that price growth remains skewed towards the mid-sized capitals where listings are tighter.
On the ground in Brisbane, we are seeing buyer activity more skewed towards the more affordable price points, which remained extremely competitive in November, particularly under the $1 million price cap that applies for many buyers accessing the expanded First Home Buyer Guarantee Scheme. That segment has been busy since October, but in November we also saw a noticeable lift in competition between $1 million and $1.5 million, with multiple-offer scenarios becoming the norm rather than the exception. It’s not unusual, at the moment, to see at least half a dozen offers on well-located houses, units and townhouses, and buyers who hesitate are simply missing out.
Brisbane’s auction clearance rate lifted to just under 74% in November, up from about 72% in October and well above last year’s mid-50% range. Median days on market remain very low at around 21 days, unchanged from October and roughly a week faster than the decade average, underscoring how quickly buyers must move.
Investor and first-home buyer activity is still underpinning a large share of demand. In Queensland, investors account for around 38.3% of housing finance commitments, while first-home buyers make up roughly 27%, confirming that both groups remain very active in this market.
The expanded First Home Guarantee Scheme, which allows eligible buyers to purchase with a 5% deposit and no lenders’ mortgage insurance and has had its income and property price caps substantially lifted, is expected by Domain’s research team to lift home prices nationally by 3.5%–6.6% in its first year, mainly by pulling forward demand into the sub-cap price brackets.
For Brisbane, where the new cap has been set at $1 million, that means ongoing pressure in the lower- and mid-priced segments through 2026.
Investor sentiment remains remarkably upbeat. The Australian Property Investor Q3 2025 Sentiment Report still ranks Queensland as the state with the best property investment prospects over the next 12 months, although Victoria has closed the gap, reflecting improved affordability in Melbourne.
Around 69% of survey respondents intend to buy as investors in the next year, with a clear preference for detached houses but rising interest in townhouses, villas and even commercial property as buyers search for value.
For Brisbane and regional Queensland this suggests investor demand will remain a key driver of activity through 2026, particularly in middle-ring suburbs where yields are comparatively stronger and rental demand is deep.
Forward-looking forecasts are broadly aligned in expecting further price growth, albeit at a more moderate pace. Louis Christopher’s Boom & Bust 2025 report sets out several scenarios for 2026. Across all four scenarios, Brisbane dwelling prices are projected to rise, with ranges between roughly 8% and 18% depending on the macro backdrop. The base case points to growth of around 10–15% for Brisbane, while a stronger economic rebound scenario pushes that to 13–18%. By contrast, Sydney and Melbourne are forecast to grow more modestly across most scenarios, while Perth remains a standout alongside Brisbane and Darwin for potential double-digit gains.
Domain’s 2026 Forecast Report paints a similar picture but separates houses and units. It expects Brisbane house prices to rise another 5% in calendar 2026 (on top of an estimated 9–10% lift through 2025), while units are forecast to grow by around 7%, the fastest unit price growth of any capital city.
This reflects a structural shift towards more affordable attached product as detached houses push through new price ceilings.
On the supply side, the story has not changed. Brisbane remains chronically undersupplied. According to SQM Research, both new listings and total listings are lower than a year ago, and total stock on market sits well below long-term averages, as it does in Perth, Adelaide and Darwin. This tightness is a key reason Brisbane continues to outperform the combined-capital averages.
In terms of macro-policy, the RBA left the cash rate unchanged at 3.6% in November, and markets no longer expect further near-term cuts. APRA has also stepped in with new macro-prudential settings that will, from February 2026, cap loans with a debt-to-income ratio of six times or more at 20% of new lending. Cotality’s analysis suggests this will only affect a small share of borrowers, as just 5.5% of recent loans have DTIs at or above six, but it does signal regulators’ desire to avoid an excessive build-up of leverage in this late-cycle phase.
The surprising piece of the macro puzzle this month is sentiment. The Westpac–Melbourne Institute Index of Consumer Sentiment jumped 12.5% in November to 103.8. This is the first reading above 100 in almost four years, indicating that more households are now optimistic than pessimistic about their financial outlook. While one month does not make a trend, it helps explain why buyers are still prepared to stretch for quality property despite affordability remaining very tight.
Brisbane Dwelling Values
As noted above, Brisbane dwelling values rose 1.9% in November, following a 1.8% rise in October. Quarterly growth accelerated from 4.9% at the end of October to 5.5% at the end of November, while annual growth stepped up from 10.8% to 12.8%. The median dwelling value now sits at $1,015,767, up from $992,864 a month earlier.
Source: Cotality 
In comparison, the combined capitals posted 1.0% monthly and 3.1% quarterly growth, with annual gains of 7.1%, so Brisbane is clearly outpacing the capital-city aggregate. Perth is the only capital currently growing faster on both monthly and quarterly measures, while Adelaide is broadly in line with Brisbane over the month but behind on the quarter and year.
From a segmentation point of view, the November Cotality Chart Pack shows that price growth across Brisbane’s value bands is becoming more even. Over the three months to October, the lower quartile of the Brisbane market was still leading, but the middle and upper quartiles have now narrowed the gap as higher-value properties play catch-up.
Source: Cotality
In other words, we are no longer seeing growth confined to the affordable suburbs. Blue-chip family homes and prestige property are also moving, particularly when they present well and are scarcity assets in their own right.
PropTrack’s index tells a similar story, with Brisbane dwelling values up 0.6% over the month of November, reinforcing the view that this is a broad-based upswing rather than a quirk of one data provider.
Brisbane House Values
Brisbane houses continued their strong run in November. Median house values rose 1.8% for the month, matching October’s monthly gain, and are now 5.3% higher over the quarter and 12.2% higher than a year ago.
The median house value has pushed from $1,087,183 in October to $1,111,431 in November, an increase of around $24,000 in just one month.
PropTrack reports that Brisbane house prices rose 0.6% in November, consistent with the positive trend we are observing in the Cotality data.
Source: Cotality
Brisbane Unit Values
Units remain the quiet achiever of this cycle in Brisbane. Median unit values climbed 2.2% in November, outpacing houses yet again, following a 1.9% gain in October. Quarterly growth now sits at 6.3%, up from 5.3% a month earlier, and annual growth has lifted from 14.0% to 15.8%. The median Brisbane unit value has moved from $774,498 in October to $792,896 in November, edging closer to the $800,000 mark.
The combination of relative affordability, very tight rental conditions and limited new supply is clearly supporting this segment. With around 94% of Brisbane suburbs still having a median unit value under $1 million, compared with only about 43% of house markets, units are the primary way many first-home buyers and investors can participate in this phase of the cycle.
PropTrack’s index shows unit prices up 0.9% in November, slightly ahead of houses, reinforcing the sense that attached dwellings will continue to be a key outperformer in 2026.
Source: Cotality
Brisbane's Rental Market
Brisbane’s rental market remains incredibly tight. The city’s vacancy rate was 1.0% in October, up only marginally from 0.9% in September and still well below a balanced-market level. Annual rent growth is re-accelerating. House rents are now 6.0% higher than a year ago, up from 5.6% in October, while unit rents have lifted 6.9% over the year, compared with 6.5% a month earlier. Both segments are again growing faster than inflation, which is putting real pressure on tenants.
Source: Cotality
Gross rental yields have softened slightly as prices have risen faster than rents. House yields sit around 3.3%, while units are yielding roughly 4.1%.
That’s still attractive compared with Sydney and Melbourne, but the gentle drift lower shows how much capital growth has led this phase of the cycle. For investors, Brisbane continues to offer a compelling balance of yield and growth, particularly in the unit market, where annual rent growth is outpacing houses and yields are about 0.8 percentage points higher.
Importantly, low vacancy is not just a tenant issue. It also complicates life for owner-occupiers who need to sell before they buy their next home. When rental options are scarce and expensive, many households are reluctant to sell without having secured their next property, which in turn reduces the flow of new listings coming to market. This feedback loop is part of the reason stock levels remain so tight and price competition so intense.
Domain’s rental forecasts suggest that both house and unit rents in Brisbane are likely to continue rising through 2026, broadly in line with the combined-capital average, as persistent undersupply keeps vacancy rates low despite some easing in population growth.
Summary
Brisbane’s housing market ended spring on a strong footing. Dwelling values are rising faster than the national average, houses and units are both posting solid gains, and rental conditions remain extremely tight. Affordability is clearly stretched. Brisbane dwelling values are up around 85% over the past five years, but buyers and investors are still prepared to compete hard for quality assets, especially in the sub-$1 million and $1–1.5 million brackets where government incentives and borrowing capacity intersect.
There are, of course, challenges ahead. Housing remains at record levels of unaffordability, interest rates look likely to stay on hold for longer than many had hoped, and APRA’s new macro-prudential settings will place some additional guardrails around high debt-to-income lending. At the same time, Brisbane continues to suffer from chronically low listing volumes and insufficient new construction. Policy settings such as the expanded First Home Guarantee Scheme are stimulating demand in certain segments, but they do little to address the supply side. In fact, some borrowers who take on higher loan-to-value ratios may find themselves running up against the new DTI caps, limiting their borrowing capacity in future years.
When you put all of this together, the outlook for Brisbane through 2026 still points to further price growth rather than a pause or pull-back. Unless we see a significant lift in new dwelling supply or a material weakening in demand, for example through recession, major policy change or a sharp increase in unemployment, the balance of probabilities is that prices will continue to trend higher from here, even if the pace moderates as affordability ceilings are reached.
In short, Brisbane remains a market where scarcity is doing the heavy lifting. For buyers, that means being strategic, data-driven and prepared. For investors, it underscores the importance of asset selection and rental risk management. And for existing owners, it reinforces the value of holding well-located property in a city where the underlying fundamentals are still pointing in one direction - and that is up.