Property market update: values fall for a sixth month
Home values fell for a sixth straight month in September, and homes are taking weeks longer to sell. Here is what the spring numbers say, and what they change about the job.
Australia’s property market update for mid-October is a story of a spring that hasn’t sprung. Cotality’s Home Value Index shows national dwelling values fell 1.1% in September. That’s the sixth monthly fall in a row, leaving values 5.2% below their March 2026 record.
Almost every capital city suburb has recorded a fall over the past three months. Brisbane had the sharpest drop in September at 1.5%. Darwin was the only market to rise.
Homes are taking longer to sell
The more telling numbers sit underneath the headline. Cotality estimates home sales over the past three months were 19.1% lower than a year earlier. The median capital city home is now taking 39 days to sell, compared with 23 days a year ago.
Listings tell the same story. Fewer new homes are coming to market, with new listings across the capitals 9.2% lower than a year ago. Yet total stock on the market is 23.1% higher, because homes that are listed are sitting there longer.
Auctions reflect it too. Cotality’s preliminary clearance rate across the combined capitals was below 50% for two weekends running in early October, at 48.2% and then 48.8%. Auction volumes were running about a third lower than the same time last year.
Why the market has slowed
Cotality points to a mix of affordability limits, higher interest rates, cost-of-living pressure and weaker consumer confidence. With the cash rate at 4.60% after several rises this year, buyers can borrow less than they could twelve months ago. Many are simply waiting.
What a slower spring changes for agents
When homes take 39 days instead of 23 to sell, the work shifts:
- More time goes into each listing. Longer campaigns mean more weekly updates to vendors, more inspections and more follow-up with the same buyers.
- Pricing conversations matter more. A vendor who remembers last year’s market needs evidence about this one: recent local sales, competing listings and how long similar homes are taking.
- Fewer listings means more prospecting. When owners hold off selling, agents spend more time building relationships with the people who will sell next year.
None of this is unusual. Markets move in cycles, and agents who have worked through a slow patch tend to say it’s where they learned the most.
If you’re thinking about getting into real estate
A slower market is a useful time to look at the industry honestly. The job is less about busy weekends and more about preparation, communication and knowing a local area well. Our guide to what working in real estate is really like covers the habits that matter in any market.
Sources: Cotality, Home Value Index, September 2026 results (released 1 October 2026); Cotality preliminary auction results for the weeks ending 4 and 11 October 2026, as reported by the Australian Financial Review.