Login
Has the market turned in investors’ favour?
Property supply is moving in different directions across the country, with Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide seeing a surge in listings while Sydney and Melbourne record fewer new properties hitting the market.
Heading into the back half of the year, Australia’s property market is vastly different to just 12 months ago.
According to REA’s Market Snapshot July 2026, the volume of new buy listings had declined by 2 per cent compared to 12 months ago.
The data showed that Sydney and Melbourne had seen a decline in new listing volume of 16.9 per cent and 14.3 per cent year-on-year, respectively.
REA Group senior economist Angus Moore said the softer conditions seen in Sydney and Melbourne were offset by Perth, Brisbane, and Adelaide.
“Those three cities had a quiet year in 2025, with the combined number of new listings hitting the market across the cities below average through much of the year,” Moore said.
“This year has seen that reverse, with activity above average for this time of year, particularly in Perth.”
Over the same period, total listings rose by 4.2 per cent nationally, again spurred on by the trio of Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth.
Adelaide’s total listings saw the largest jump, increasing by 18.6 per cent, closely followed by Brisbane’s 17.7 per cent.
Outside the capitals, regional areas were slightly busier in July than the previous year for new listings, up 2.4 per cent year-on-year (YoY), but saw a 1.8 per cent YoY decrease in total listings.
A softening market
As auction clearance rates declined, the data showed that they were slowly beginning to recover heading towards the back half of the year.
With weekly clearance rates in Sydney and Melbourne hovering around the 50 per cent mark, Moore said the pullback in buyer demand suggested a mismatch in pricing expectations between buyers and sellers.
“This will likely lead to further declines in home prices over the coming months.”
Moore said that days on market had been climbing, consistent with softer market conditions seen nationally.
“The median days on market nationally has increased by about a week since April, though it is only a day longer than July 2025.”
“While most parts of the city have seen properties taking longer to sell, the change has been notable in Perth.”
He said a sharp increase in the supply of homes hitting the market in Perth had seen the Western Australian capital’s median days on market balloon from 29 days in April to 40 in July.
House values take a hit
Additionally, the data showed a broad-based decline in house values across the capital cities for the month, led by Sydney’s 0.6 per cent decline.
The data found that Canberra, Adelaide, and Hobart all recorded drops of 0.5 per cent, while Melbourne fell by 0.4 per cent.
Brisbane and Perth saw the smallest decreases in values, 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively, while Darwin was the only capital to achieve a positive result, with house prices rising by 0.1 per cent over the month.
Moore said the current market conditions had been heavily influenced by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and the government’s recent taxation reforms.
“The cumulative impact of three interest rate rises and changes to investor tax settings have dampened buyer demand, driving a broad-based slowdown in home prices and market conditions,” Moore said.
“To date, the pattern of price growth is consistent with affordability and interest rates being a key driver. Prices in more expensive segments of the market have declined more than in affordable areas, a common pattern in interest-rate-driven downturns.”
Want to see more stories from trusted news sources?
Make Smart Property Investment a preferred news source on Google.
Click here to add Smart Property Investment as a preferred news source.